LUKA NEEDS HELP? HEY, JUST CALL ZION AND FORM A SUPERTEAM

The NBA’s upward-mobility portal could have a new round of frustrated stars in due time — from Lillard to Doncic to Williamson — which isn’t healthy for a league with two superteams vying for a title

     Psst, I have an idea. It’s evolutionary, revolutionary and extraordinary, and absolutely no one has thought of it before. Why not have Luka Doncic, who is frustrated and needs help, contact Damian Lillard, who is frustrated and needs help, and maybe they can Face Time with Zion Williamson, who is frustrated and needs help, and plant the collective seeds for — trumpets, bells, sirens, rappers — an eventual NBA SUPERTEAM?

     My sarcasm is about to fade to resignation. What once was a trend — frustrated superstars forming their own powerhouses, beyond traditional league control and formatting — now becomes an imagination brainstorm every time an elite player loses before he’d prefer. As the Dallas Mavericks were blowing the final two games of their opening-round playoff series, Doncic was seen barking at coach Rick Carlisle, ‘‘Told you not to call a timeout when you don’t need it!’’ And as the Trail Blazers failed to support Lillard, whose Game 5 masterpiece was aptly described by Kevin Durant as “a spiritual experience,’’ a showman who clearly is tiring of small-market life launched a power play against team management.

     ‘‘I don’t know what a shakeup looks like or what changes will be made or could be made, but obviously, as is, it wasn’t good enough,” said Lillard, who demanded that Jason Kidd or Chauncey Billups be named coach when Terry Stotts was fired, with Kidd needing two nanoseconds to say no.

     Instantly, the usual suspects phoned the Blazers, who almost certainly will be trading Lillard. Miami is front and center on the list, and with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo rested after a short offseason last fall, Lillard’s addition would anchor the Heat as a potential superteam. We are a few seasons away, of course, from any free-agency alignment between Luka, Dame, Zion and anyone else who enters the get-me-out-of-here portal. But trades are more than doable — Lillard has four years remaining on a $196 million supermax extension — and you know what’s about to happen on NBA Twitter and throughout the most gossipy, social-media-driven league in sports.

     Speculation! Manipulation! Fabrication! 

     The narrative, especially in Doncic’s case, becomes how he leverages his future and where he ultimately goes. Because like Lillard and Williamson, who can’t maximize their legacies in Portland and New Orleans, he plays in a city that isn’t attractive to monster free agents. In producing some of the most  staggering numbers ever in a playoff series — such as scoring or assisting on 77 points, most by a player in a Game 7 — Doncic also exposed Kristaps ($158 million) Porzingis and the Dallas supporting cast as lame. He’s just 22 and only three years into his NBA journey, yet he knows the story of Michael Jordan, who toiled for seven years until enough pieces were assembled around him to win championships. For now, Doncic is making no demands.

     ‘‘I think that’s a question you should ask the guys that make this team, right?’’ he said Sunday. ‘‘I’m just a player here, you know.’’

     But when asked if he could take solace in his numbers — he finished the series with 250 points, 72 assists and 55 rebounds, while nursing a cervical strain in the final three games — he said he ‘‘hates’’ losing and hasn’t achieved anything in his view. ‘‘Nothing yet. Been to playoffs twice, lost both times,’’ Doncic said. ‘‘You get paid to win. We didn’t do it.’’ For the better part of a decade, Lillard had been similarly patient and respectful of management. Finally, he snapped, knowing his glory clock is starting to tick.

     Thus, with recent history and patterns as a compass, the gradual search is on for destinations that serve championship aspirations. And they’re aware of the most golden paths to date: LeBron James took his talents to South Beach and won two championships with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh … Durant took his backpacks to Golden State and won two titles with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green … and James took his show-biz dreams from Cleveland, where he finally won a title for his people, to Hollywood, where he won a title with Anthony Davis. Superteam Fever was only starting.

     Today, the favorites to meet in the NBA Finals next month are two contrived groupings formed by agents and egos, not drafts or in-house development. The Brooklyn Nets, the collaborative destination of Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, are Eastern Conference favorites despite Harden’s hamstring issues. And the Los Angeles Clippers, the chosen terminus of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, finally shed a longstanding franchise curse to do the unthinkable: remain a championship contender in L.A. after the beloved Lakers have fallen in a postseason. Neither the Nets nor Clippers are the entrenched heirloom teams in their cities, yet based in New York and L.A., they provided upwardly mobile stars a landing place in a major market.

     ‘‘Games aren’t won with one or two players,’’ Leonard protested after ousting Doncic and the Mavs. ‘‘You need a whole 16 or 17.’’

     Funny how no one says that on the first of July, when free-agent madness grips the hoops universe, and the stars inherit most of the money.

     None of which is healthy for the league. Leonard hoisting a trophy in Kobe Bryant’s town is almost blasphemous. Same goes for Durant, who came to Gotham as a business mercenary, not unlike any Wall Street raider. Chances are, one of their superteams will host the parade. It’s hard to imagine the Nets rolling across the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s harder to imagine a Clippers’ caravan on Figueroa Street, where the Lakers still haven’t had the chance to celebrate their Bubble triumph, especially when you can pay face value — or less — at Staples Center to watch their upcoming series against top-seeded Utah.

     But such is the modern NBA. Leonard won in San Antonio, wanted out, won in Toronto, wanted out, and finds himself in his native southern California, where he would have wanted out had the Clippers been eliminated. Durant couldn’t win in Oklahoma City, wanted out, won in Golden State, wanted out, and will opt out again if the Brooklyn experiment fizzles.

     Here I hoped Giannis Antetokounmpo would start a movement when he stayed in a small market, Milwaukee, and signed his $228 million supermax extension with the Bucks. I’m afraid it was an aberration. Hell, some even wonder if Curry, with unrestricted free agency looming after next season, would flee the Warriors for a better shot at championships in his twilight. Are we 100-percent certain he’ll re-up? ‘‘There’s no reason to think why that won’t happen,’’ coach Steve Kerr said.

     But that’s what they said about LeBron … and Durant … and Leonard … and all the rest. Besides, you can’t spell a Lakers Future without L-U-K-A.

     Jay Mariotti, called ‘‘the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes sports and media columns for Barrett Sports Media and appears on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts in production today. He’s an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and radio host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects. Compensation for this column is donated to the Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust.