Vlade Divac on why he didn’t draft Luka: “I already had Fox who I had a good relationship with so I would have to trade him. The small market was a perfect fit for Fox. Luka is a big market player, if I get him I may lose him down the road.”
if “lose him” means trading him for 7 picks. then yeah I guess lmao
Mavs: you guys are getting picks?
That’s the Mavs, they aren’t too bright. Im sure Vlade is smarter than Mavs organization is currently
Pre-Masai I think you’re right, but him and Vlade make an interesting comparison
I cannot believe we made a worse decision than the Kings when it comes to Luka.
The guy that passed on Luka to draft Marvin Bagley is smarter than the organization that got him?
I understand the trade was/is ultra stupid but not even drafting Luka is crazy
Yeah the Nico thing is weird because before the Luka trade he was actually a really good GM:
I’d still rank Nico above the Vlade Kings, Luka trade and all
Nico built a genuinely perfect team around Luka that covered all of his weaknesses and made use of his strengths. The team made the finals and then got better in the offseason, Luka just got his first longer term injury so the record was rough, but I am confident they’d have remained championship contenders for a few years. Of course he had to go and ruin things for literally everyone. Now Luka is on a team that simply has no assets to build around him, Kyrie tore his ACL because of the overuse following the trade, AD’s gone from the team that knew how to manage his injuries and now his reputation is in tatters, Nico got himself and Kidd fired, and now the Mavs are back in a rebuild for who knows how long.
You don’t understand. We got Ironman AD in exchange for that fatso. That’s worth like 10 picks.
The other problem is that Luka was good enough to win a championship as soon as his second season
God that’s such a big problem that people keep ignoring. I would hate to have that problem. He made the right choice.
Yeet it into the sun. Away!
Clashes with kings culture
Funnily enough this did probably hurt roster construction for the Mavs. It’s like with Lebron on the Cavs, they are no longer a lottery team and cannot draft talent to go with him and gradually build. Drafting JB in the second round and kyrie being a cancer in Brooklyn was good luck. You see how bad that team looks without him.
That’s true. It would have put too much pressure on the kings franchise to be a contender, so they opted to stay mid.
Bagley is also good enough to get you 7 lottery picks (by making your team so bad you miss the playoffs for 7 years)
Excuses. But let’s take his word. This loser mentality is precisely why the Kings will always be the Kangz. Always looking at the negatives instead of if he stays, great. If he leaves, that may even be better.
Fr what the actual fuck. If our gm came out and said, well i woulda taken this generational player, but ya know, were the fuckin bucks lol were bums couldnt do it to the poor rookie. Im not sure if i could even enjoy basketball until he was gone thatd suck so bad. Sorry kangz bros i didnt realize it was that bad
He’s just making up stuff instead of admitting that he’s inept like the rest of the King’s franchise.
You guys do realize he was fired, right?
Personally I was scanning, saw a V, and my mind autofilled with Vivek
Maybe that happened to them too idk
Yes. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t inept at his job just like the rest of the Kings franchise.
I mean y’all realize this man got fired years ago right?
best I can do is Anthony Davis and one pick. I will throw in Max Christie too, but you can’t tell anyone, just sign here.
Info: do I have to keep Anthony Davis?
He’s contractually obligated to have one season-ending injury per team, so you have to keep him until that happens.
No, but you can only flip him for a future OKC pick.
The #1 pick, don’t ask how I know.
I don’t think Silver would allow him to wear anything but the purple and gold. So Street Clothes and a pick will have to do. Oh and Max Christie 😂
Poor Max Christie. He’s actually a very good player but he’ll always be “that guy who got traded for Luka”
I feel worse for Davis. He is a hall of famer who got talked about like he was Brian Grant or something after that trade.
He didn’t look like a hall of famer in Dallas. I know he is one, but he did not perform or stay healthy.
He looked like peak Hakeem for the 15 minutes he played in his Mavs debut before getting injured
Yea he’s great, would love him on my pels actually
Whoa. That’s rich I think you mean Max Christie a 1st and a player to be salary dumped later
I interpret this as the Kings were too shit for Luka so we didnt pick him
Kings are so dumb they would get an even worse return than Dallas did
Elite rage bait
Vladdy’s not the flopping king anymore, so he’s branching out.
Yeah, weird way of saying he’s dumb
Dumbest answer ever
Look there is only 1 ball and clearly Fox needed it for 48 minutes
It’s not only that. It would be dumb but somewhat understandable if Fox was a proven All NBA type franchise player but at that point he was a rookie PG coming off a 11 point season. He hasn’t proven anything yet to warrant being the type of player to build around. It would be similar to the Mavs not drafting Luka because DSJ told them not to.
Fox could be at the peak of his powers and it’d still be dumb to choose him over prospect Luka
I don’t know Fox did more to help a team win the Finals than Luka has.
It wasn’t the team Fox was playing for but still counts
The dumbest part is thinking Luka couldn’t play with Fox. Luka was coming off international play where he looked amazing next to Dragic. Dragic was literally a common comp for Fox. Both are similarly-sized, fast, straight line driving lefties with questionable outside shots. I don’t understand how anyone could watch him play with Dragic and think “he would never succeed with Fox!”
It is just so incredibly dumb, Luka won Euro Championship at 18 playing with a Euro version of Fox and after seeing that you decide that he isn’t a good fit
Vlade clearly just lying to try and save face.
Mitch Johnson in the 4th:
I am sure he thought that lol
“Yeah I had a chance to bang Scarlett Johansen back in college, but she was so beautiful I knew she’d leave me one day so I passed”
Honestly, if you swapped bang for date, I’m sure there are a decent amount of people that would be terrified to date someone like her because they know they’ll eventually leave them for someone better
And that, Padawan, is why you fail.
Colin Jost over ME?!
May as well be in it for a good time, not a long time.
makes perfect sense to me. he knew the league would expect him to be traded to LA for jackshit one day.
Truly kings pilled logic sadly
corpse of AD has a better value than Marvin Bagley
A visionary
Dumbest GM ever, and I say this as his fellow Serb and a big Kings fan from when he played there.
This answer only makes me more annoyed at him. You don’t draft a guy because “you may loose him down the road”? This is the dumbest shit I’ve heard from a GM. You can say that about literally every top prospect, doesn’t mean you don’t draft them.
Cavs shouldn’t have drafted Lebron because he left eventually.
Bucks shouldn’t have drafted Giannis because he’s leaving now.
Thunder shouldn’t have drafted KD because he left them.
“I had a better deal two days ago.” What did we do to deserve this level of incompetence? Make it stop
This is what happens when front office overthinks things. Just draft the best player available. And if there is roster conflict, let them compete for the spot. Once one establishes as a clear starter, trade the other one.
What baffles me is that they drafted Hali though
Well Monte drafted Hali, not Vlade. But yes overall the whole thing is fucking stupid.
There’s no such thing as smart answer to this question outside of “it was the worst decision”
You can just admit you fucked up, instead of trying to pretend you were playing 5D chess or some shit
I mean be honest and say I messed up and if I had a time machine I would draft Luka if I got a 2nd chance. The answer he gave is pathetic and weak and just plain stupid.
Every time they ask him this question he comes up with a new, different, yet somehow still equally fucking stupid answer.
Vlade is someone who has historically been on the opposite side of Lakers history.
That tipped ball was an absolute perfect pass to Robert horry
I died that night
Tipping the ball out to Horry is like the reverse of Fox’s fuckup
So tru ha
So true, but the Kings FO has been a joke long before Vlade joined them. Not sure if there really was a need to send a spy in…
You’ve made a great argument, Vlade should get a statue.
He should genuinely just say he didn’t think Luka would be this good. He would be wrong, but it’s more defensible than any other reason he’s given so far. People definitely had concerns about Luka‘s lack of athleticism so lean into that just be wrong instead of a clown.
I mean, that’s bad enough but at least Fox was All NBA. Forget Luka. The actual pick was for Marvin fucking Bagley. Not Trae Young, not Shai, not Brunson, not Jaren Jackson.
People sometimes theorize that Vlade didn’t take Luka because of some beef with Luka’s dad. But after hearing these excuses he’s been saying about how Luka’s a big market player, I have a new theory- He didn’t take Luka as a favor to Luka’s dad.
I bet Luka’s people let the Kings know he didn’t want to go to Sacramento, and Vlade did them a solid.
Actually makes sense.
That was my theory from the moment I saw them dining together pre draft.
I don’t understand why people can’t just say “yeah I fucked that up.” This sort of thing happens with drafts. Be an adult, admit you made a mistake, move on. The mental gymnastics seem more exhausting than just owning the mistake.
Fox cost us Luka. Fox cost us Mike Brown. Fox cost us /s
And Haliburton if you think about it
Fox cost us Fox too if you think about it. Although that contract looking like age milk right now.
Kings didnt give him the max extension (luckily for them), but they should’ve gotten more back from the trade at the time. It was still bad negotiating and they’re stuck with lavine’s contract for another year.
The Kings offered Fox the max extension twice. Both in 23 and 24 off-season, Fox wouldn’t sign it.
That’s true. Kings got lucky he declined them
My point stands
If I were a Kings fan this would be the one that would keep me up at night. He was the one star level player that said he loved playing for Sacramento, and it was clear he was going to only get better. And they traded him because of De’aron fucking Fox.
Now he cost SA a championship and 200m
*229M
I like him
Don’t forget Hali as well
Hiring Vlade cost the Kings everything goddamn
Kinda. The stupid thing is that the preceding GM was equally as stupid. Pete D’Alessandro. Common theme is Vivek and poor leadership at the top.
You can trade him for Anthony Davis and Max Christie down the road, you know?
Don’t you forget about a 1st round pick 4 years down the road.
I like how Mavs did something so horrible that imo people are shitting on the 3 teams that didn’t get him a little less now. Like most people expected Luka to be great, but after having him for 7 years and seeing what he did, and then flipping him for essentially Bagley and like 2 picks is mental.
Who is a bigger idiot in this scenario: Vlade or the person who hired him?
Option C: The fans that still support this godforsaken team
We’re all option C then.
One of us…
What is this humiliation fetish bullshit? I would’ve drafted Luka and I’m a dumbass. Like 90% of the fanbase would’ve. The team would’ve been better off if twitch chat played “kings basketball operations: the game”.
I didn’t get to pick where I was born and what team I chose to support and I’m not a bandwagon hopping little bitch either. So here I am, a Sacramento Kings fan
but
I DIDNT DO FUCKIN SHIT
I DIDNT RIG SHIT
Nah fuck that, you cant just switch teams
You don’t have to switch teams, just stop supporting a dumpster fire that will never extinguish and enjoy the sport as a neutral. I did it with the cowboys in the nfl a decade ago and my enjoyment of the sport is better for it
Signed a loyal Knicks fan since the ECF
But actually though I’ll be a Kings fan until I die, knowing I’ll never experience a championship. And with this Front Office we don’t deserve to luck into one
I’m in it for the city, but other than that yeah… 🙃
Bro shut the fuck up. Holy shit I fucking hate this team
Crock of shit lol. He had problems with his dad.
That was a crock of shit. They are actually friends and Vlade pesonally showed one of our radio guys the text chain between Vlade and Luka’s dad where they laughing at the false reports.
Ooof such a bad way to run a business
Absolute moronic explanation
Besides Giannis now (10+ years and a championship later), have any/many European stars ever pushed dramatically to go to a big market? Jokic seems happy where he is. Luka said he would’ve wanted to stay in Dallas the whole time. Dirk stayed put. Parker did all his best work where he started. Either Gasol? I always got the impression that most of the European players didn’t get caught up in the small-vs-big market or east-vs-west coast jockeying.
I hate this franchise
Tis better to have never loved at all than to have loved and lost.
-Vlade Divac
‘tis better to have never loved at all and still lost. over and over.’
Bro Fox was never a top 5 player in the league but for some reason Divac and Mitch Johnson/the Spurs treat him like he is
lived in Dallas my whole life and watched Luka from day 1. calling him a ‘big market player’ is just revisionist history — the Mavs aren’t exactly NYC/LA and he stayed loyal until the org fumbled him. Vlade’s reasoning doesn’t age well lol
Vlade is stupid as hell but I still think there was more at play to get Luka to LA than just Nico’s idiocy. I think the league likes stars in LA.
I don’t believe anything that Vlade says about this situation, given that he would’ve/should’ve had the most inside knowledge of anyone in the NBA around Luka.
My “gut” will always be that it was one of two things: there was actually some bad history there (that we don’t know about) that biased his decision, or (and I’m more inclined to believe this) it was actually a favour to Luka/family to not draft him to a team owned by Vivek and his impulsive moves that could impede Luka’s development. And then every excuse since is just plausible deniability.
(And the 3rd is that it was always just Vivek’s call, and Vlade was the fall guy… but then I don’t see why he would still be falling on the sword if that was the case).
Vivek absolutely wanted Luka but let the basketball people make the basketball decisions. Vlade knew Luka from when he was a kid, and was good friends with his dad. There is speculation that he saw firsthand how alcoholism and partying ended Luka’s dad’s career early and that Vlade was afraid the apple would fall too close to the tree.
That’s the first time I’ve heard the I saved him theory wow
I didn’t think it was that wild. Vlade strikes me as the kind of guy who would have more loyalty to his family and friends than his boss. And we’ve seen dozens of times when top prospects didn’t want to go to certain teams - this might have been the only time where they actually had a direct line to the decision maker to convince him to do otherwise.
My God, I feel for you Kings fans.
Look I didn’t take the best available option because that option was too good and eventually we’d lose it. I’d rather never have it to begin with.
So dumb.
Got rid of Fox anyway
Man, it sucks being a Kings fan lol.
Wow what a dumbass
OP what did I do to you to get reminded of this again
We already dead bro…
If we take vlade at his word here Fox is the biggest terrorist in nba history
Why is it so hard to say “I got that one wrong”
I turned down a relationship with Ana de Armas because I may lose her down the road.
drafting marvin bagley was WILD
It’s one thing to pass on him but who they picked made it so much worse.
Fucking idiot !! I live in sac - if I ever see him I will talk my shit. Still irks me how kings Vivek still employs Divacs ?!?!
He has beef with Lukas dad. Thags why he didn’t take him
This is why you always draft best available. Not fit. You can figure it out later and trade one of them for compensation. The Thunder drafted Giddey even though they had Shai because he was seen as the best available. They eventually traded him because he didn’t fit with Shai and they were able to get Alex Caruso as compensation. Always take the best available, see who rises to the top and trade the other one
Lmao wtf
Loser answer for a loser gm for a loser franchise
Well that’s fucking stupid
Could’ve traded him for AD and a first round pick
The way he mumbles and tip toe around the conversation up to the middle makes you think he’s making something up.
This is incredibly dumb logic.
Honestly every team that passed on Luka are idiots. A Euro league MVP and Champion at like 18. He should have went first.
The more nfl and NBA owners and execs speak, the less I blame players who are viewed at as busts or teams that are considered underachieving.
I love how late r/nba is to this typa stuff this has been out for line 4 months
You guys won’t believe me, but I rented a house via a property management company that was owned by Vlade and previously his vacation home.
These are the people running your team, your government, your military, your corporations.
And we wonder why we’re in the state we’re in.
This guy is a legend, I get it, but he was a slouch on the floor for our team and he was the worst GM we have had, and I am talking bout the kings here….
Lame excuse
This clip should be shown in media literacy classes to illustrate hindsight bias
so theres a fcking logic behind it
thats speculative like day trading
So instead I decided to take the guy who couldn’t shoot or play defense.
You’ll lose Luka if you traded him for a defensive big man. Surely there’s no dumb GM would do that…
What is he supposed to say here? That he made a terrible decision for Sacramento and decided not to draft a generational talent who can become franchise’s superstar player.
Luka played SF his first season fyi
“I hate his dad. that’s why”
this man ran an NBA team lol
This makes it even worse
Vlade took a few too many shaq hits
Smart man never buy Corvette!!
Yes, is beautiful car, is fast and great to drive, but.. someday it will need repair and then..
Is much better to drive Kia!
he just tried to say whatever sounds smart at the moment. Lol
He doesn’t want 1A and 1B then? You always want to get the best talent as much as possible.
That’s a lot of mental gymnastics to justify your damn ass decision.
lol. Lost out on both anyway
Aka “I’m fucking stupid and unqualified for my job”
lol at everything being fox’s fault. Vlade is a fucking moron.
Kings lost both, so it didn’t matter. Just kinda proves, no matter what the Kings decide, it’s going to be the wrong choice. It’s sad really
Money is bad because if you spend it then you won’t have it.
So, I know this is fun to clown, but this argument I do think works sometimes.
When we talk about Greg Oden vs Durant, they were 1a and 1b and nobody minded the decision until Oden was injured. I preferred Oden because I (correctly) thought Durant had the demeanor of a glory chaser.
The issue, of course, being Luka wasn’t 1b, he was 1.
I’m about to go into Golden 1 and tear down his jersey from the rafters myself 😤
This is a fucking hilarious excuse given that the Kings traded Fox literally one day after Luka got traded, and Luka didn’t even want to go.
Funny thing is Dave Joerger who was the coach at the time wanted Luka and got fired bc he was pissed that they drafted Marvin Bagley. He also got into it with Brandon Williams who was the assistant GM, who convinced Vlade that Bagley was better. He even made comments about Lukas ceiling when they played the Mavs.. which is in reference to when Vlade said Bagley ceiling is higher than Lukas.
“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”
Generational dysfunction.
Did Vlade smoke cigs at halftime?
Now we know why the Kings suck
This may be the dumbest logic I’ve ever heard for not getting a high-ceiling potentially generational talent. The difference between getting him and MAYBE losing him versus not drafting him is that in the scenario where you’re getting him, YOU ACTUALLY HAVE HIM.
Moron
The rumor is that Divac and Luka’s father had beef back in the day.
It’s clear that he’s lying about whatever the actual reason was, but why make such a stupid lie? By this logic he would draft Luke Kornet over Wembanyama bc Wemby might want to play for a competent franchise later
Vlade is a big believer of it’s better to not love at all than to love and lose
Even if he actually believed this, probably better to keep it to himself at this point
Always need to just do best player available in the draft
different story every time
That’s the stupidest reasoning I ever heard, someone making business decisions entirely based on his feelings.
CAP
LMFAO if Marvin Bagley III walks in free agency im blowing my brains out
Does Vlade realize this is basketball, not baseball?
This makes me think that he’s even dumber than I thought, as Fox and Luka would be a great backcourt combo
Guy shouldn’t have his job lol.
What an idiot