The Dallas Mavericks recent shocking trade of All-Star Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers sent waves through the NBA and American sports. It had many fans and analysts scratching their heads as to why the Texas basketball team would trade away Dončić, a player many call a generational talent, weeks before the NBA finals.
No official reason has been given, adding to speculation. Team General Manager Nico Harrison did mention Dončić’s upcoming Supermax contract eligibility, and that the new Mavs ownership felt he wasn’t worth the money. Team Governor Patrick Dumont said it was a sporting decision and questioned Dončić’s fitness commitments.
But the players involved, Dončić and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and Max Christie, were apparently not informed until the deal was basically done. Neither was Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd.
The controversial deal, coupled with its backroom nature, led to many conspiracy theories among basketball fans. One that captured attention online suggested that new owner Miriam Adelson wants to move the team to Las Vegas, where her gambling operator, Las Vegas Sands, is based.
The idea is the Dončić trade is a deliberate ploy to run the team down and make it easier to sell a move.
Others ran with this angle. One sports lawyer from Texas posted his theory online, suggesting that Adelson could be using the threat of moving the Mavericks to Las Vegas as a bargaining chip in Sands’ quest for legal Texas casino resorts.
The Mavericks have officially denied any intention of moving. But that didn’t stop fan protests and the team losing nearly a million followers on social media in the days after the announcement.
“The Dallas Mavericks are not moving to Las Vegas,” Dumont told the Dallas Morning News.
“There is no question in that. That is the answer, unequivocally. The Dallas Mavericks are the Dallas Mavericks and they will be in Dallas.”
The Facts
The shock departure of Dončić was always going to provoke some reaction. Trading away one of the NBA’s biggest new stars at the peak of his career is one thing. But the way in which the trade was made was ripe for speculation.
For one thing, several players and others involved in the trade were not aware it was happening before the announcement. The execs of other NBA teams are apparently furious that there was no bidding war for Dončić , and he was apparently shipped to the Lakers in a backroom deal.
“It was done at the ownership level. We understand its business,” Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy, told local media.
Then Mavericks’ general manager Niko Harrison admitted during a press conference that he hadn’t told team head coach Jason Kidd about the trade before the announcement. Kidd sat next to Harrison, said little, and looked less than impressed.
The official line of reasoning for the trade has also been questioned. Mavericks’ higher-ups, many of them now connected to Las Vegas Sands since Adelson bought the team, made a financial and sporting case for the trade that many fans didn’t agree with.
Although Davis is no doubt a top-tier NBA player as a 10-time All-Star – a fact the Mavericks awkwardly got wrong in an Instagram post announcing he had joined – most agree he isn’t on the level of Dončić. In fact, ESPN recently rated the trade an “F” grade in a scathing article analyzing the sports side of the agreement.
Even with injuries this season, the Slovenian’s offensive stats were ahead of Davis by some margin. And despite his injury issues, at 25, Dončić hasn’t yet peaked, while at 31, Davis is approaching his top. That’s a fact that was starkly brought into focus during his Mav’s debut last weekend against Texas rivals the Houston Rockets.
Although Davis had an impressive performance, scoring 26 points and seven assists in the Mavs’ close victory, he went down hurt in the third quarter and couldn’t continue.
The abductor injury may need surgery and could see him out of action for months. That will only add fuel to many Mavericks fan convictions that the whole trade was a bad decision.
The Theories
So why then, if the fans are right and it wasn’t for the provided reasons, do they think the Mavs made the trade?
Well, another recent event could help explain that. Las Vegas Sands, or at least a political action committee opaquely backed by the casino giant, earlier this month paid for a massive advertising campaign promoting the legalization of Texas casino gambling.
The theory goes that Miriam Adelson bought the Mavericks as leverage in Sands’ long game play for a Texas casino resort. It sees the Lone Star State as one of the last untapped large U.S. gambling markets.
The idea is, with a 2025 change on Texas casino gambling looking unlikely, Sands could tell the state Legislature it will move the Mavericks out of Dallas unless it gets to build a casino resort at a long-proposed new stadium site for the team.
Some see the transfer of Dončić, organized by backroom Mavs’ staff connected to Las Vegas Sands, as the first part of this plan. As it is, most believe the Mavericks are far too popular for the NBA to agree to move them to another state.
However, Adelson’s supposed ultimate goal is to alienate enough fans and run the team down to the point the NBA would agree to the proposal – if they don’t get their way with Texas gambling.
Miriam Adelson and her late husband and Sands founder, Sheldon Adelson, have been ruthless in their business dealings in the past. Sheldon considered Texas gambling the biggest prize of all.
They have also made no secret of their desire to incorporate a casino resort into the designs for a new Mavericks stadium, having openly discussed the idea with the former team owner, Mark Cuban.
Cuban, by the way, once told reporters that if he was asked to leave his wife or trade Dončić from the Mavs, his wife better start talking to divorce lawyers.
The conspiracies were recently brought up in a Dallas city council meeting by comedian Alex Stein, who ranted at the podium for several minutes in front of bemused city officials. Fans also protested outside the stadium before, during, and after Saturday’s game, with some holding a mock funeral for the team.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
