The Confederacy section may start here, but it always ends very quickly 💁🏾♂️
Rajan Narang
@rdnarang.bsky.social
1.8K followers 985 following 4.8K posts
Working for a just democracy. We’re mobilized, and now it's time for us to organize. Personal account: sometimes silly, sometimes serious
![1: My job here is done.
2: But you didn't do anything!
1: [chuckles knowingly] Didn't I? *teleports away*](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7ld2pukwdjeu3wquhqvofhjy/bafkreihxzo5zebui4jxij4vxhvees6aku6lgpzvwjvlvceewwph6xxygtq)
![Go to nba
r/nba
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8h ago
shreeharis
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[Stein] “I'm told that the Lakers were emboldened to go to such lengths to acquire Kessler in large part because they acquired Luka Doncic on such favorable terms. The trade assets preserved in that heist, helped nudge them to a place where they believed they could withstand spending big on Kessler”
Source: https://marcstein.substack.com/p/another-burst-of-late-night-nba-intel
To establish a pathway so quickly after the marketplace opened to pry Kessler away from the Jazz required them to surrender two future first-round picks (fully unprotected in both 2031 and 2033) and two first-round pick swaps (2028 and 2030) in addition to signing Kessler to a new four-year, $130 million
contract.
Yet I'm told that the Lakers were emboldened to go to such lengths to acquire Kessler in large part because they acquired Luka Dončić from Dallas on such favorable terms in February 2025.
As hard to believe as it continues to be nearly 18 months since The Trade was consummated, Dončić was somehow pilfered from the Mavericks with just one unprotected first-round pick in 2029 leaving Lakerland. That solitary future first was packaged with Anthony Davis and Max Christie to land Luka ... with the Lakers also successfully keeping Austin Reaves out of the trade.
The trade assets preserved in that heist, in other words, helped nudge the Lakers to a place where they believed they could withstand spending so big on Kessler. They, too, had promised Dončić a top-flight center in the summer.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7ld2pukwdjeu3wquhqvofhjy/bafkreihn4qc7jqpugv2evgk2wgbmv7lyiccptjgprhpdk2ecidfn7lbmn4)