All right, you're listening to the Benenscuin Show. We appreciate you making us a part of your daily routine. If you've been listening to us for a while, you know that the Luca trade it is directly in our heart. It has hurt our sports soul. But we've carried on MAVs basketball tonight. By the way, the play in tournament continues. Good luck to the Mavericks to night against the Grizzlies.
That game will be right here on the Eagle. But there's also other news today with regard to the Mavericks, and that is that Luca did an interview, and now that interview is out there in the world, and so we'll get to take a listen.
What do you got to key?
Yeah, I don't know if it's the full interview or how long you sit down, but the clip that's been servicing is about two minutes. So, yeah, this is Luca on ESPN with Malika Andrews.
The night you're traded and you threw it.
Yes, do you have that phone? Yeah?
You still use that phone?
Yeah, it still works.
Let's go back to the night that you were traded. Can you just take me through what you did that night.
Well, I was actually in the bed. No, my tea wasn't working, so I was a nightpay watching movie about to go to sleep. For seeing us said like probably three times.
Just say you first, What are you feeling in that moment?
Suddence. Mostly I was still in shock, like crazy shock, and I was, I mean, I felt like my heart was broken. Honest.
Where did you rank that in terms of your all time performances?
I would say top one, just because it was so special, you know, with the fans, with teammates just being there. It was something I've never seen in my life and it was just just specially the love between me and the fans.
On your way out of Dallas, some pretty pointed criticisms of you on the floor, off of the floor, even about your body.
I'll me to just play from depends how you take it. Mostly it came from Dallas, you know, so I just didn't want to talk back, but I really read that much stuff and just trying to focus on my journey.
General manager Nico Harrison of the Dallas Mavericks, you had this closed door, no cameras meeting with reporters. The reporter said, you didn't believe that the team that went to the finals last year with Luca as a centerpiece, could contend and continue to contend for championships. And Nico Harrison said, I'll say this again, defense wins championships. What do you say to that?
This is certain the way he's talking right now. But I never say anything bad about him, and I just want to move on the fans my ex teammates. I always keep it hard. It's time too for me to move on from that.
Have you spoken to Nico Harrison since you left Dallas?
No?
Have you spoken to him on the night that you were traded? No? Was your intention to finish your career in Dallas?
Of course, that's easy question.
Jesus, I was healing.
This is why I avoid it. I don't look for any Luca content at all. He's only going to make you feel bad.
Dude.
I'm avoiding it. Dude.
You don't want to see Luca go up against ant Man starting tomorrow night.
You know what I got in the mail yesterday? My first bit of Lakers gear.
Oh what'd you get? I got some shorts? Got some Lakers shorts. You should have gotten in Austin Reeves, Jersey. There it is, and your Bingo card.
Would you have felt different. I know it's tough, but if they did get Austin Reeves out of the deal.
Oh yeah, no, it would still suck. But like they should have gotten whatever else. Yeah, if they got Lebron back, man, they went and dealt from a place of weakness. Listen, we got a problem. We have to trade Luca because of all these problems. And then Rob Polinka the gym Lakers like, yeah, uh man, if we're gonna take this guy off her hands, sounds like he's pretty flawed.
I'm not gonna be able to give you that much for him.
If you think about several things jump out out of that clip. If you think about the way that the fan base has reacted to this in general, all of it, every level of it, and especially whenever like the Nico. You know, I would call it a private press conference or a private media gathering. It wasn't secret, like people knew it existed. But when you look at that, in the way that the fan base has reacted to it, to hear Luca say, it's sad what is being said about him.
I don't say anything bad about him him. You know, we need to.
Move on the way he phrases that that is going to infuriate people.
Oh yeah, he's taking the high road. Yeah, and the Mavericks are not. Once the Mavericks chose to make this decision, and I say, the Mavericks once Nico and dude, don't let Nico wear this on his own. Think I think there was probably a vote, and I think there's a lot of people that are lurking in the shadows that aren't wearing any of this. He's wearing it all himself. But whatever. When the Mavericks decided we were moving on from him, that in itself is one thing a decision
to make. Then the return you get that's something else. But at that point they were screwed because there's nothing they can say. They can't say, well, other teams target him defensively, he was a liability defensive pep like wait what Like it's so emotional that you can't say anything. So the best thing that could have happened is if
they had just stuck to their guns. First of all, they shouldn't have come out and made a joke at the first press conference, right, They should have understood read the room a little bit, right, But they you know, they should have said, Look, we were going in a different direction. It's a lot of money to pay somebody. We think his body, you know, he my body might break down.
We don't know.
We believe this identity will help us win. That's the only thing they could have done. Okay, here, and here's what I'd say.
I agree with you.
But the problem is that there's there's absolutely nothing they can say, because I would maintain, like, if you think about the way Malika Andrews position that Nico did not say, I think Luka Doncich's terrible defensively and his body is going to break down. He said, defense wins Champion. Like I think they're talking about the stuff that came out. Yeah, well, okay, again, that's all like that's not Nico publicly saying anything. That's
reporters saying the Mavericks believe, you know. And that's that's the problem with that sort of game, Like there's literally nothing that Nico can say that the fan base will be okay with.
And that's why he hasn't talked.
But and then he went out there and talked, and he talked in kind of vague terms and everyone's like.
Say, say, and he's like, I didn't say any.
But also it's complicated because the return was so bad, like that's probably the worst trade in the history of trading, like in terms of the value return. And so there's nothing that really can be said right, because that's a problem itself, shortening the window by six years, getting an older player, that in itself is problematic, not getting a full return.
There's so many problems for it.
But unquestionably this Luca interview is going to hurt the hearts of mass fans.
Yeah, I think I like the way you said it there.
There's there's so many problems with it that even things that are valid, they can't be said right. They can't because no one, you know, we talk about this all the time. People have a reception strategy.
You know.
It's like they hear the things that they want to hear, and there's literally nothing the man can say or do that will justify it to anyone on the planet. And so when he doesn't say anything, everyone kills him. And then when he goes out and says stuff and he's you know, it's dude, he's not like a dynamic public speaker, so everyone kills him for what he says. And the problem is the perception of the trade is established. Everyone feels the way they feel, and there's literally nothing the
man can say. So killing him for not saying anything and then killing him for saying something. That's just the position the trade has.
Put him in.
Because the trade is universally hated except by Laker fans.
It's like when it's it's summertime and you're like, well, you know, I'm not gonna turn my air conditioner on. Like, no, everyone turns the air conditioner on in the summer. It's just such an obvious thing. And that's why conspiracy theories about the team moving come up.
Right.
It makes crap like that easier to believe because the trade is so bad.
Did you see that Adam Silver stuff the other day with Pat McAfee. Everyone's killing Adam Silver and he's like, all I'm saying is it's not a conspiracy. We didn't do this for ratings. Nico believes what he believes, and he also said, I've known Nico a long time.
He's a good person.
But again, to your point, the trade is so poorly received by not only maths but buy basketball media that you immediately start making up crazy things to justify it to yourself. And what I'm telling you is we've said this, not just me saying this. Nico believes that Anthony Davis, paired with Kyrie Irving, was going to win him a championship, and he did not value the relationship between Luca and the fans, and so he made a move that he
thought was going to bring a championship. And it's like, oh, well, wow, this is how everybody feels. I thought everybody felt like Brian Winhurst right right.
The more we get, the more my nuts hurt. Yeah, and I'm I'm avoided.
All right, Mavericks Tonight, Lakers and Timberwolves start tomorrow night.
Let's talk about the today game. It's fun. We'll do it next right after this on The Eagle