The Dallas Mavericks are In Purgatory

The title of this article refers to how the Dallas Mavericks’ front office has continued to double down on the Luka Doncic trade. This has been absolutely embarrassing, and people were begging for them to just stop. Despite that, the Mavericks front office has continued to make things worse. It has been a little over a month since the trade heard around the world was finalized; Yet it feels like almost every week there is something new about this trade, and enough is enough.

This trade will be talked about for generations, and it is because the front office cannot keep Doncic’s name out of their mouths — and not in a good way. 

Immediately after the trade, there was a smear campaign before the deal was officialized. The phrase was “defense wins championships,” even though they lost in the finals to a Boston Celtics team that wasn’t all too great offensively for Celtic standards. While Doncic’s defensive performance wasn’t great, you cannot deny the impact he makes offensively. The viral clip of ESPN’s Brian Windhorst laying into Doncic after last year’s playoffs comes to mind. But you must also keep in mind that Doncic led the league in the playoffs in minutes played, points, rebounds and assists. He was putting up amazing numbers in these playoffs and was the anchor to the team going to the finals. If his defense was that much of an issue, they could have continued to collect defensive players, like the front office did with PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford.  

At the press conference held the day after the trade, Nico Harrison was cracking jokes at the team’s expense, basically admitting that he did not tell anyone else about this trade. Not Jason Kidd, not even Doncic himself; literally no one else except for Patrick Dumont and Rob Pelinka. In response to a question about the long-term impact of Doncic’s impact, Harrison said that “the long term is 3-4 years and I’m not going to be here for that long anyways.” Kidd’s body language is especially uncomfortable throughout the press conference; he looks like he does not want to be there. He must now coach a team that just traded away their best player, and as he says later in that press conference, they have multiple injured players.

The Mavs then, shortly after a 40-point loss to the Cavaliers (first game post-trade), swapped Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin. Martin’s medicals were so concerning that he went from being questionable the game after he got traded to being out indefinitely. The Mavs were given the option to void the trade but chose not to after receiving a second-round pick. As for the writing of this article, Martin has been assigned to the G League for rehab and still has not played a game as a Maverick. 

Conflicting narratives have started to spread—there were reports on national TV regarding the potential of death threats being sent towards Harrison, while Dallas police stated there were no credible ones. ESPN’s Tim Macmahon had discredited a Dallas local journalist, Grant Aarseth, for the claims of the threats not being credible. During this public spat, Mavericks fans staged a protest at the first home game since the trade, bringing signs, wearing jerseys and the like. At this home game, Anthony Davis dominated, breaking franchise records. However, he got hurt re-aggravating the injury that had him out on the Lakers. 

Dumont, the governor of the Mavericks, continued the Doncic smear campaign, essentially calling the superstar swingman’s work ethic into question by naming iconic stars like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Not only did Dumont get shade from LeBron James shortly after that (indirectly, through Instagram Stories), but the stars he brought up were not examples of good work ethic. Jordan has been spotted gambling in Magic City, Bird has gotten into bar fights, Bryant has been (at times) detrimental to team effort and O’Neal has so many examples I don’t think I can get into in this article. Bryant noted that if O’Neal had the same work ethic that he had, “The Diesel” would be the GOAT. There were other players he could have mentioned, such as Dirk Nowitzki, who played 21 seasons for your franchise. Nowitzki also just recently pulled up to Doncic’s first Laker game, which is as public of a denouncement of the trade as he can make. 

All hell is breaking loose in Dallas. An employee of the Mavericks made a personal tribute video of Doncic, which was deleted without warning or explanation. Kidd didn’t have a press conference after a last second loss to the Kings. He claims it was because of the frustration of the game, both losing in that fashion and losing yet another player to injury. Mark Cuban, during a game, even told fans to be quiet (in more harsh words) and then got into arguments on Twitter regarding who was booing what. 

The Mavericks then released a hype video, which Doncic is sloppily edited out of. His body is literally blacked out and the Maverick logo is slapped on his face. The rapper who made the song used in this video had to issue an apology in place of the front office. I know what you may be thinking: organizations do this with all former players! And you might be right, however, Maxi Kleber is seen on a poster in the background for a good 30 seconds into the video. 

In the Mavericks’ first game against the Lakers, Luka dropped a triple double, and Los Angeles won that game. He could be seen hugging every Mavs player and staffer with the exception of Kidd. Harrison was in attendance and the crowd broke into a “Thank you Nico” chant as the former Dallas star went to the free through line.  

The situation got much worse from there: Kyrie Irving tore his ACL and is out for the remainder of the season, officially killing any hope of Irving and AD hooping together, and the playoff chances of the Dallas Mavericks. Funnily enough, I had them matching up against the OKC Thunder in the Western Conference Finals so that Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could face off once again. All that hope managed to get crushed within the span of a literal month. 

Worst part of it all? Dallas is raising season ticket prices by at least 8%, citing “team investment” as justification. I don’t think I have ever seen anything as bad as this when it comes to sports teams. 

Now that you’ve gotten the full recap of the past month, does your head hurt yet? Harrison has essentially taken over Jerry Jones’s spot as the most hated sports executive in the Lone Star State, and maybe the country. Mavericks fans, you have my condolences. The only thing I can describe this past month as is excruciating self-immolation of criminal degree.