This is going to sound dramatic, but I'm genuinely grateful for Bob's ability to articulate how I'm feeling (not just about the Mavs, but obviously that's the point right now).
Hearing Nico repeatedly insist that we have to give a lot of credit to Pelinka for being a willing dance partner seemed to reveal everything wrong with this trade. Bob mentioned Occam's Razor with regard to the Vegas conspiracy theory, which reminds me of another quote: "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence."
And to Bob's point, I don't actually think winning is a panacea here. I'm a lifetime MFFL, and it feels like falling in love with the team again this season is an impossible task even if they make a run to the Finals. And if they don't make a run to the Finals this season (the most likely outcome for every team, no matter how talented), the odds that this team (and front office) are allowed to stay together are low.
The Mavericks won't have a single starter who has been on the team longer than two years. The heart and soul of the team will now be...PJ Washington? Kyrie? And it feels like Kyrie's tenuous relationship with levelheaded leadership will be pushed to the brink by this move.
Nico essentially guaranteed that the Mavericks will be a listless franchise in search of relevance by 2027, whether he's here or not. And as he implied with his jokes at the beginning of the press conference, he doesn't care. The Adelsons don't seem to care. So maybe we shouldn't care so much either.
Clearly, this trade was not dreamed up by Nico. Nico has the backbone of a wet noodle and is falling on his sword. This trade originated from the halls of ESPN and the league office. The World Wide Leader is upping its media rights deal with the NBA by $1.2B next year, while ratings were down 18% in Dec. ESPN isn’t going to sit idly by and watch the league’s biggest draw (LA) go down the tubes in the late/post LeBron era.
Noticed that Kendrick Perkins is saying the Mavs won the trade, and Stephen A Smith is claiming Dallas is now the biggest threat to OKC in the west. They are covering their tracks and changing the subject.
The NBA has been borderline WWE for years. They just crossed into new era.
Nah. Kendrick and Stephen A are both idiots/xenophobes who cannot stand the fact that two Europeans, both of whom are white, are two of the three best players in the NBA.
Kendrick and Stephen aren’t in their position because they are outstanding basketball analyst. They are controlled and will to say whatever management wants them to say. They may or may not be racist but they know that Luka and Jokic are great basketball players.
It sounded like Barkley was kind of "wait And see" in his analysis of the trade. He said a lot of good things about AD and mentioned the Mavs not wanting to commit the money to Luka.
I'm with Bob regarding team loyalty. I've never much liked fans who jumped from bandwagon to bandwagon and liked whichever team was the hottest. Fans who stay loyal to a team through all the various ups and downs are, as the kids say today, built differently.
And you can tell instantly when talking to a fan which kind they are. It's easy; just ask them about the bad times.
I grew up in Dallas and have loyally rooted for Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars since they day those teams existed (or I was under 6 years old, in Cowboys instance). So I don't say this lightly: I will never be a fan of the Mavericks ever again. In fact, I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.
I often advise those who bother to ask or listen that you shouldn't reward people who abuse or disrespect you with your time or energy. The Mavericks owners and decision-makers have abused and disrespected me in an unforgivable manner. Therefor I refuse to reward them with my time, energy or (most important for them) dollars.
I hate the remaining players get swept up in this but they'll enjoy lucrative careers and this moment will be a blip in a long career. For fans, the pain will never, ever go away. Every time Luka does a Luka thing it will be in that god awful purple and yellow and not Mavs blue. That's a gutpunch to just write.
Nico Harrison will go down as the most hated person in Dallas sports history. Jerry Jones has a long ledger of things he's done that have contributed to Dallas beyond the Cowboys and, oh yeah, he does have 3 Lombardi Trophies.
Nico traded away one of the 5 or 6 greatest sports figures in Dallas history. I mean, it would be like Tex Schramm trading Roger Staubhach away in the 70's; that's how ignorantly stupid this move was.
Good luck Nico. You'll never had a job in the NBA and you'll be booed in Dallas and ridiculed in NBA circles for all eternity. Maybe next time ask someone who knows what TF he's doing before pulling off a career ending move.
“ I grew up in Dallas and have loyally rooted for Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars since they day those teams existed (or I was under 6 years old, in Cowboys instance). So I don't say this lightly: I will never be a fan of the Mavericks ever again. In fact, I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.”
This is me in a nutshell. I went to multiple games the Mavs first season and have attended more than I can possibly count since then. Never again! What was done Saturday night is one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen a team do to its fans. I know they don’t give a damn but the Mavs will never get another dime of my money. I don’t care how they perform in the future, they won’t be my team ever again.
I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.
Right there with you. And I agree with the Staubach analogy. Imagine Tex trading Staubach after SB10 to Washington for Ken Houston. Or Jerry trading Aikman to Philadelphia for Seth Joyner. This is stupid of Biblical proportions.
A fifth point from the press conference that should make Mavs’ fans insane was Harrison giving credit to Pelinka for keeping their trade talk between them. You’re gifting him a generational talent in his prime without asking him to bid against any other teams. Of course he’s going to keep his mouth shut. Harrison has got to be one of the dumbest people on the planet.
I cannot follow the Mavs right now. It is not revenge, it is just too depressing. How long will I feel that way? Every time I see Luka do something amazing in LA will remind me that he should be in Dallas.
It is a cliche that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference. I have reached that level of fandom with The Cowboys. This hits different. The text from my 28 year old son on Saturday night simply said: "WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K!!!". This is from a young man who has never experienced a glorious Cowboy season. However, the Mavs were his team. And Luka was his Troy/Emmett/Michael. He genuinely felt a personal connection to Luka and what he was a part of here. My son idolized Dirk, but his connection was with Luka. His connection to the Mavs was Luka. As we talked through Sunday, by the end of the day his comment was "I just don't care anymore, I'm angry at Nico, but I just don't have it in me to care anymore". That is one of the saddest things I've ever heard him say. And that is Nico's legacy.
Thanks, Bob, reading the piece helped me realize it's not just me, that other people are feeling the same sense of betrayal and bitterness over the trade.
I don't believe the owners or Nico didn't know what they were doing. I guess time will tell on the gambling motivation, but no one gets as rich as the Adelsons unless their one and only priority is making more money. And there is way more money in opening gambling up in Texas than in running an NBA franchise.
As far as the Mavs go, this broke me. I have been a fan since Mr. Carter started the team, stayed with them through the bad years, rejoiced in the championship, and was super excited about the future. Now, I'm done with them for good. Not even sure if I can still enjoy NBA basketball anymore.
This team was in the NBA finals last year because Luka drug them there. They lost the NBA finals, not because of interior defense, but because they could not make open shots and Luka was playing on one leg. So what did the Mavs do to improve the team this past offseason? They went out and got the best three point shooter in the history of the league. Tell me how adding an old, always hurt interior player and subtracting a generational offensive player going to fix things? It's not. Goodbye to my Mavs fandom, I'm done. Screw Nico and screw the incompetent ownership group!
Excellent piece - for a sports computer, you can wax eloquent with the best of them. Hopefully the remaining three teams in our city will give you more opportunities to do so in celebration instead of lamentation.
There are plenty of lessons to take away from this outrage, but one that's near universal but frequently forgotten is this:
Nico & the Adelsons have broken this fanbase. It’s truly unprecedented in modern sports history. My best friend, the most loyal, knowledgeable and passionate Mavs fan I know—who could right now name every roster and trade and season result since 1985—is done. He canceled all his NBA and sports subscriptions and refuses to talk about it. They have no idea how they just broke a fanbase.
I think you're right. I think this one is different than any other. The only one I think is similar is Gretsky but he had already played for the Oilers for 10 years at that point and brought Edmonton 4 Stanley Cups.
They made documentaries about the Gretsky trade because it was so monumental...they'll likely be making ones about this trade, and how it ruined the relationship a community had with its team.
As a die-hard sports fan, this crushed me. This would be like trading Dirk in 2007 after they lost the Finals the year before. I will not watch the Mavs because I feel betrayed. Lied to. I feel like we just watched grand Moff Tarkin blow up our home planet Alderaan.
And, to your point, they have zero clue about what they've done.
Thanks, Bob. For years as I watched very good Cowboys teams falter in the playoffs or the Stars just miss out on eternal glory, I would always fall back on, "at least I get to watch THAT guy play on my team."
I wanted a title, of course, but I wanted it for Luka more than the Mavs. He was the joy. Even when they didn't have playoff success, I was able to enjoy dozens of incredible performances by him each year. Watching him play was the journey and the destination.
But now? After they finally built the best team around him that we've ever had? This was supposed to be, "the window!" I wish I could say that I don't care if they're successful, but that's a lie. I want them to fail. I want Nico to be fired and never hired again, though even that isn't close to enough to provide justice.
From all accounts, everyone in the organization was surprised, angry, and hurt just as we are. This sucks for other favorites like PJ & Lively; they don't deserve this. In the end, you're right. They just don't get what they've done.
And for reference, I grew up with Dirk as my guy. The only reason I don't toss out my fandom and gear is because he's still my favorite and it feels like I'd be leaving his legacy. But as purely a player, I've always thought Luka was better and brought more joy to watch. He was supposed to be the next guy and for my kids, he was. Now we'll one day see his statue in LA instead of here
Everyone else has understandably written a lot. I’ll keep mine short. I’ve followed for 30+ years. I’m walking away cold turkey. Few will know, and fewer will care. I’m just one fan. I get that. But I’m gone after decades, and I’m not alone. RIP Mavs.
25 yers old. I guess those of us who have been boys and raised boys know the most young men struggle with maturity until those early 20’s to 24-25 years of age. You throw away a generational talent just as he begins to reach those years where his maturity will be fully developed. Beyond stupid.
"I could have done nothing and been a hero" - instead he ripped our heart out, destroyed team chemistry and alienated and turned an entire fan base. The love is gone and will never come back. Luka is no longer ours
I cannot understand how a smart, knowledgeable person would think the Mavs will be better with an older, oft injured AD than Luka. The Mavs are already reasonably strong at center and power forward. AD may be better (when he plays), but not enough better to offset the loss of Luka. Defense is important, particularly in the playoffs, but how would AD help the Mavs defend the three-point barrages that cost the Mavs every loss against Boston (making the far-fetched assumption the Mavs got that far again). Even if you thought the Mavs might be better to move on from Luka, why talk to only one team? Luka would be a very hot commodity around the NBA. I understand hubris and not having anyone to check you, but this is just too far out for a smart knowledgeable professional.
This is going to sound dramatic, but I'm genuinely grateful for Bob's ability to articulate how I'm feeling (not just about the Mavs, but obviously that's the point right now).
Hearing Nico repeatedly insist that we have to give a lot of credit to Pelinka for being a willing dance partner seemed to reveal everything wrong with this trade. Bob mentioned Occam's Razor with regard to the Vegas conspiracy theory, which reminds me of another quote: "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence."
And to Bob's point, I don't actually think winning is a panacea here. I'm a lifetime MFFL, and it feels like falling in love with the team again this season is an impossible task even if they make a run to the Finals. And if they don't make a run to the Finals this season (the most likely outcome for every team, no matter how talented), the odds that this team (and front office) are allowed to stay together are low.
The Mavericks won't have a single starter who has been on the team longer than two years. The heart and soul of the team will now be...PJ Washington? Kyrie? And it feels like Kyrie's tenuous relationship with levelheaded leadership will be pushed to the brink by this move.
Nico essentially guaranteed that the Mavericks will be a listless franchise in search of relevance by 2027, whether he's here or not. And as he implied with his jokes at the beginning of the press conference, he doesn't care. The Adelsons don't seem to care. So maybe we shouldn't care so much either.
Clearly, this trade was not dreamed up by Nico. Nico has the backbone of a wet noodle and is falling on his sword. This trade originated from the halls of ESPN and the league office. The World Wide Leader is upping its media rights deal with the NBA by $1.2B next year, while ratings were down 18% in Dec. ESPN isn’t going to sit idly by and watch the league’s biggest draw (LA) go down the tubes in the late/post LeBron era.
Noticed that Kendrick Perkins is saying the Mavs won the trade, and Stephen A Smith is claiming Dallas is now the biggest threat to OKC in the west. They are covering their tracks and changing the subject.
The NBA has been borderline WWE for years. They just crossed into new era.
Nah. Kendrick and Stephen A are both idiots/xenophobes who cannot stand the fact that two Europeans, both of whom are white, are two of the three best players in the NBA.
Kendrick and Stephen aren’t in their position because they are outstanding basketball analyst. They are controlled and will to say whatever management wants them to say. They may or may not be racist but they know that Luka and Jokic are great basketball players.
It sounded like Barkley was kind of "wait And see" in his analysis of the trade. He said a lot of good things about AD and mentioned the Mavs not wanting to commit the money to Luka.
FoxNews, Trump loving SAS? Have you been paying attention 🤣
Yep. That is all facts.
I'm with Bob regarding team loyalty. I've never much liked fans who jumped from bandwagon to bandwagon and liked whichever team was the hottest. Fans who stay loyal to a team through all the various ups and downs are, as the kids say today, built differently.
And you can tell instantly when talking to a fan which kind they are. It's easy; just ask them about the bad times.
I grew up in Dallas and have loyally rooted for Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars since they day those teams existed (or I was under 6 years old, in Cowboys instance). So I don't say this lightly: I will never be a fan of the Mavericks ever again. In fact, I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.
I often advise those who bother to ask or listen that you shouldn't reward people who abuse or disrespect you with your time or energy. The Mavericks owners and decision-makers have abused and disrespected me in an unforgivable manner. Therefor I refuse to reward them with my time, energy or (most important for them) dollars.
I hate the remaining players get swept up in this but they'll enjoy lucrative careers and this moment will be a blip in a long career. For fans, the pain will never, ever go away. Every time Luka does a Luka thing it will be in that god awful purple and yellow and not Mavs blue. That's a gutpunch to just write.
Nico Harrison will go down as the most hated person in Dallas sports history. Jerry Jones has a long ledger of things he's done that have contributed to Dallas beyond the Cowboys and, oh yeah, he does have 3 Lombardi Trophies.
Nico traded away one of the 5 or 6 greatest sports figures in Dallas history. I mean, it would be like Tex Schramm trading Roger Staubhach away in the 70's; that's how ignorantly stupid this move was.
Good luck Nico. You'll never had a job in the NBA and you'll be booed in Dallas and ridiculed in NBA circles for all eternity. Maybe next time ask someone who knows what TF he's doing before pulling off a career ending move.
“ I grew up in Dallas and have loyally rooted for Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars since they day those teams existed (or I was under 6 years old, in Cowboys instance). So I don't say this lightly: I will never be a fan of the Mavericks ever again. In fact, I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.”
This is me in a nutshell. I went to multiple games the Mavs first season and have attended more than I can possibly count since then. Never again! What was done Saturday night is one of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen a team do to its fans. I know they don’t give a damn but the Mavs will never get another dime of my money. I don’t care how they perform in the future, they won’t be my team ever again.
I will be hoping the franchise goes into a tailspin so steep and so severe that the 90's will look like good times.
Right there with you. And I agree with the Staubach analogy. Imagine Tex trading Staubach after SB10 to Washington for Ken Houston. Or Jerry trading Aikman to Philadelphia for Seth Joyner. This is stupid of Biblical proportions.
Great analogies.
A fifth point from the press conference that should make Mavs’ fans insane was Harrison giving credit to Pelinka for keeping their trade talk between them. You’re gifting him a generational talent in his prime without asking him to bid against any other teams. Of course he’s going to keep his mouth shut. Harrison has got to be one of the dumbest people on the planet.
Nico is a total clown
I cannot follow the Mavs right now. It is not revenge, it is just too depressing. How long will I feel that way? Every time I see Luka do something amazing in LA will remind me that he should be in Dallas.
It is a cliche that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference. I have reached that level of fandom with The Cowboys. This hits different. The text from my 28 year old son on Saturday night simply said: "WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K!!!". This is from a young man who has never experienced a glorious Cowboy season. However, the Mavs were his team. And Luka was his Troy/Emmett/Michael. He genuinely felt a personal connection to Luka and what he was a part of here. My son idolized Dirk, but his connection was with Luka. His connection to the Mavs was Luka. As we talked through Sunday, by the end of the day his comment was "I just don't care anymore, I'm angry at Nico, but I just don't have it in me to care anymore". That is one of the saddest things I've ever heard him say. And that is Nico's legacy.
Quite a legacy: destroying an entire generation's love of their team. That's almost impossible to do.
As a 28 yr old I believe I texted my dad the same thing and relate to all of what you said
My son is also named Ryan! I feel for you as well, I'm so sorry.
Thanks, Bob, reading the piece helped me realize it's not just me, that other people are feeling the same sense of betrayal and bitterness over the trade.
I don't believe the owners or Nico didn't know what they were doing. I guess time will tell on the gambling motivation, but no one gets as rich as the Adelsons unless their one and only priority is making more money. And there is way more money in opening gambling up in Texas than in running an NBA franchise.
As far as the Mavs go, this broke me. I have been a fan since Mr. Carter started the team, stayed with them through the bad years, rejoiced in the championship, and was super excited about the future. Now, I'm done with them for good. Not even sure if I can still enjoy NBA basketball anymore.
At least I can still see Luka play
This team was in the NBA finals last year because Luka drug them there. They lost the NBA finals, not because of interior defense, but because they could not make open shots and Luka was playing on one leg. So what did the Mavs do to improve the team this past offseason? They went out and got the best three point shooter in the history of the league. Tell me how adding an old, always hurt interior player and subtracting a generational offensive player going to fix things? It's not. Goodbye to my Mavs fandom, I'm done. Screw Nico and screw the incompetent ownership group!
Excellent piece - for a sports computer, you can wax eloquent with the best of them. Hopefully the remaining three teams in our city will give you more opportunities to do so in celebration instead of lamentation.
There are plenty of lessons to take away from this outrage, but one that's near universal but frequently forgotten is this:
Loyalty is a two-way street.
Nico & the Adelsons have broken this fanbase. It’s truly unprecedented in modern sports history. My best friend, the most loyal, knowledgeable and passionate Mavs fan I know—who could right now name every roster and trade and season result since 1985—is done. He canceled all his NBA and sports subscriptions and refuses to talk about it. They have no idea how they just broke a fanbase.
I think you're right. I think this one is different than any other. The only one I think is similar is Gretsky but he had already played for the Oilers for 10 years at that point and brought Edmonton 4 Stanley Cups.
They made documentaries about the Gretsky trade because it was so monumental...they'll likely be making ones about this trade, and how it ruined the relationship a community had with its team.
No longer #MFFL
As a die-hard sports fan, this crushed me. This would be like trading Dirk in 2007 after they lost the Finals the year before. I will not watch the Mavs because I feel betrayed. Lied to. I feel like we just watched grand Moff Tarkin blow up our home planet Alderaan.
And, to your point, they have zero clue about what they've done.
This trade is a permanent stain on the city, the sports equivalent of shooting a president
JFK’s Dallas exit was less shocking than this
Thanks, Bob. For years as I watched very good Cowboys teams falter in the playoffs or the Stars just miss out on eternal glory, I would always fall back on, "at least I get to watch THAT guy play on my team."
I wanted a title, of course, but I wanted it for Luka more than the Mavs. He was the joy. Even when they didn't have playoff success, I was able to enjoy dozens of incredible performances by him each year. Watching him play was the journey and the destination.
But now? After they finally built the best team around him that we've ever had? This was supposed to be, "the window!" I wish I could say that I don't care if they're successful, but that's a lie. I want them to fail. I want Nico to be fired and never hired again, though even that isn't close to enough to provide justice.
From all accounts, everyone in the organization was surprised, angry, and hurt just as we are. This sucks for other favorites like PJ & Lively; they don't deserve this. In the end, you're right. They just don't get what they've done.
And for reference, I grew up with Dirk as my guy. The only reason I don't toss out my fandom and gear is because he's still my favorite and it feels like I'd be leaving his legacy. But as purely a player, I've always thought Luka was better and brought more joy to watch. He was supposed to be the next guy and for my kids, he was. Now we'll one day see his statue in LA instead of here
Everyone else has understandably written a lot. I’ll keep mine short. I’ve followed for 30+ years. I’m walking away cold turkey. Few will know, and fewer will care. I’m just one fan. I get that. But I’m gone after decades, and I’m not alone. RIP Mavs.
25 yers old. I guess those of us who have been boys and raised boys know the most young men struggle with maturity until those early 20’s to 24-25 years of age. You throw away a generational talent just as he begins to reach those years where his maturity will be fully developed. Beyond stupid.
"I could have done nothing and been a hero" - instead he ripped our heart out, destroyed team chemistry and alienated and turned an entire fan base. The love is gone and will never come back. Luka is no longer ours
I cannot understand how a smart, knowledgeable person would think the Mavs will be better with an older, oft injured AD than Luka. The Mavs are already reasonably strong at center and power forward. AD may be better (when he plays), but not enough better to offset the loss of Luka. Defense is important, particularly in the playoffs, but how would AD help the Mavs defend the three-point barrages that cost the Mavs every loss against Boston (making the far-fetched assumption the Mavs got that far again). Even if you thought the Mavs might be better to move on from Luka, why talk to only one team? Luka would be a very hot commodity around the NBA. I understand hubris and not having anyone to check you, but this is just too far out for a smart knowledgeable professional.