February 8, 2025 • 31 mins
The Dallas Mavericks shocked the NBA world by trading a generational player to the LA Lakers. We unpack our thoughts and explore possible reasons behind the trade. How politics and sports could send the Mavs to Vegas.
It is Super Bowl weekend, so we debate on where Kansas City ranks among the top NFL teams as the Chiefs have a chance to be the first time to win the Super Bowl three times in a row.
It is Super Bowl weekend, so we debate on where Kansas City ranks among the top NFL teams as the Chiefs have a chance to be the first time to win the Super Bowl three times in a row.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into another conversation with the chriss. I'm Scott Miller,
as always, joined by Chris Byrom and Chris Shirley, and
surely we're going to start with you this week. Perhaps
the dumbest move in DFW sports history. Of course, everyone's
talking about it, and you're very passionate about it. I
(00:20):
would say amongst the three of us, you're more passionate
about basketball. Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I mean possibly. I mean I don't. I don't follow
the NBA as closely, you know, as as I used to.
But you know, I've got two boys that you know,
love basketball. You know, they could name all the players
and who they play for, and probably even name their stats,
(00:46):
you know, and so that kind of keeps me involved
in in the NBA game. I certainly, I certainly you know,
much more passionate about Baylor basssketball and about college basketball.
I much rather watch college basketball any day than an
NBA game. But when you know, when you have a
(01:10):
generational player like we do, or should I say did
on the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, you know you
you uh, maybe you follow you know, the Mavericks of
a little more closely, you know, than than you you
would otherwise. So so yeah, you know, maybe we can
(01:33):
all go back and talk about you know, when we
heard or how we found out, you know. So you know,
last Sunday morning and get up and even before I
saw the text messages from from you and and Chris,
I'd seen I guess it was a Bleacher report that
said something about imagining Luka Doncic in a Lakers uniform,
(01:58):
and I was like, what, what what is that about?
And then I read your text messages and I was like, wait,
hold on, what what is going on here? Like this
has got to be some kind of joke, some kind
of praying. This can't be real. We can't have just
you know, traded away our our generational player, you know,
(02:20):
in the middle of the night, when when nobody, nobody
on planet Earth had had talked about this is even
being a possibility.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This was completely you.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Know, out of out of the blue, and so man
that you know, I started reading more and more about it.
I was like, like this really happened, Like we we
really did just trade him away, and you know, reading
about what we were getting back, I mean, I was
(02:53):
it was it was weird, Like I mean, and I
don't want to like I'm not I'm not trying to
overstate this. This is not really how parblet, but it
was just it was. It was so weird. It's like
this mixture of just absolute surprise and shock as well
as like a little bit of like the beginning of
(03:18):
a grieving process like that that we we didn't have that,
you know, that player anymore. We weren't going to get
to watch him, you know, do you know do his
his his thing, which is is pretty amazing, you know,
on a on a night night in night out basis.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And so.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, it's just it was, it was. It was really
just kind of a strange feeling.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's interesting to describe me that way because I've kind
of seen that on social media from my friends who
are Rabbit Mavericks fans. They've kind of gone through that.
It's that, you know, what's the stages of grief, right,
you know, from shock to a to depression. It's like,
if you know any really diehard Mavericks fans, you might
(04:05):
want to check on them today just to make sure
they're okay. Byron, let's put this into an historical perspective
that we can as far as moves amongst DFWS sports,
I mean, we have seen over the years the Texas
Rangers have had some great players that end up playing
for the Yankees, and you can easily argue that the
(04:27):
Lakers are like the Yankees of the NBA. So in
that respects, this is not the first time we've had
a great player that has ended up elsewhere. But from
an historical perspective, as you think back on some really
dumb sports moves that the Metroplex teams have had, and
Jerry Jones is on that list for sure, where does
(04:50):
this rank in your mind?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There's nothing like it at all. I can think of
a couple of trades in the NFL back in the
fifty sixties, but they don't even come close to this,
Because you've got just a couple of really interesting facts
in this. You've got a player who led your team
(05:12):
to the NBA Finals the year before. You've got a
marquee team in the NBA that's about to be wondering
what are we going to do without a marquis star
Because the space at Lebron James is getting very old,
and all of a sudden has this handed to them,
and some of the reports that are coming out make
this even more stunning that the original Dill had the
(05:35):
Mavericks getting a lot more number one picks, maybe a
couple of other players, but the GM for the Lakers
was able to talk them down, saying that Luke is
an injury risk. There's also the simple fact that the
Mavericks GM did not bother to even shop around to
see is there anything better out there? This thing smells
(05:57):
to high heaven And I don't normally say that, but
I this one for me. Excuse me, it does, and
I think it is either stunningly stupid or something else
is at play here.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, you know, and there's a lot of theories that
are going around that we've we've heard and probably people
listening to this podcast to have heard. And it seems
like the number one theory goes to the ownership of
the Mavericks. Now, remember Mark Cuban sold the majority ownership,
he still has a stake in the team. So has
anybody heard from Cuban. I'm kind of curious what Cuban's thinking.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
He but said that he no longer has any role
in the day to day operations and he was not consulted. Okay,
and he found out when everybody else found.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Out the c YA statement, right, But you know it's
it's interesting because I think the biggest theory, and Byron
you you kind of brought this to our our little
text group, is the ownership has a desire to build
a new arena in Dallas that includes a casino. Now,
(07:11):
as things stand today in February of twenty twenty five,
he can't do that. Casinos are not allowed in Texas.
So a lot of people are starting to say, could
this be the first play to tank a team, to
move them and become the Las Vegas Mavericks, which, of
(07:32):
course would be a different type of maverick, right, it
would be the card playing type. Do you think that's
what's behind this?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, there's a couple of interesting developments in that since
we've talked about this. I do think there's something behind this.
There is the theory that the Addelson's bought the Mavericks
specifically to try to put pressure on the Texas government
to open up casino gambling and also sportsbooks. Well, that
(08:02):
has not worked for a lot of reasons in Texas politics.
Is a very unique group right now, and the three
big donors behind the legislature are absolutely against it and
will not allow it to happen. So yes, I do
(08:22):
think there is some something to that. I do know
that the Addleson's own a large portion of land next
to Texas Stadium that they would love the old side
of Texas Stadium. I should say that they would love
to turn into an arena and a casino. And I
think if they don't get that the idea is, well,
(08:43):
then let's move the Mavericks to Vegas, because honestly, they
probably could care less about the people of Dallas, as
they showed with this trade. The other thing that is
interesting here, though, is in the last week since this
trade took place, the governor has come out and said, hey,
I really probably wouldn't mind casino gambling, which is the
(09:05):
strongest statement of endorsement by a Texas official ever. And
it's going to get interesting. It will not happen this
legislative session. Dan Patrick has already said I'm not letting
it even come to a vote on the floor, So
it's not going to happen. And Dan Patrick is the
(09:26):
biggest roadblock to this right now. But there's tons of
rumors that Dan Patrick won't even run for lieutenant governor
next time. So who knows, But definitely the Addamsons have
put in millions of dollars already trying to lobby the
Texas government. So I think there's something to that rumor.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's you know, it's fascinating for sure. And I saw
that interview where the governor mentioned that he would be
open to having it be an actual vote, like putting
on the ballot so Texans can vote followed by and
surely this is the this is the funny part about
the little clip I saw in the news. You know,
(10:04):
I want to make sure if we're going to open
up you know, sports betting and open up casinos, that
we have rules in place to protect you know, the
grandma or the person who doesn't have that much money
from being able to go down to seven to eleven
and losing all their money. And I thought they already can.
There's already a lottery, right, we don't need extra betting
(10:24):
for that to happen. But you know, what are your
thoughts on this? I mean, you think, you know, do
you agree that this is probably what's at play and
ownership that really cares more about casino than they care
about the Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So certainly that could that could be a you know,
a part of this. But man, you know, just all
that I've read this week about this deal, you know,
and it has just seemed to get worse and worse
right as we've we've already you know, kind of stipulated here.
(10:58):
But you know, it's it seems like that one of
the main reasons why this deal was not shopped was because, uh,
you know several reasons. Number One, Nico Harrison in the
trades that he's made since he's been here, he's he
has traded for players that he has had some type
(11:20):
of relationship with. So we all know he came from Nike.
He was you know, he was an exec with Nike,
but he primarily dealt with you know, NBA players as
it related to you know, Nike deals, Nike endorsements, and
so he's he's bringing play players that he had a
previous relationship with, or he's worked with gms that he
(11:43):
had a relationship with stemming back to his time at Nike.
And so he's had a long term, a twenty plus
year relationship with the GM at the Lakers, and you know,
we've all we probably all saw the this this shots
yesterday from the Dallas coffee shop where you know, the
beginnings of this trade idea we're being hatched that were
(12:07):
out there yesterday, you know, and I certainly the vguus
aspect of this, you know, kind of you know, causes
you to just kind of scratch your head and raise
your eyebrow and go like, yeah, there could be something
more to this. But on the other hand, you know,
could it simply be that there there was there was
(12:32):
a friendship that was taken advantage of here and because
of the friendship, because of the relationship, you know, Harrison,
you know, originally this deal was supposed to be a
d Dalton connect and two first round draft picks, right,
(12:52):
and you know, in my mind that's still not exactly
equal as far as value, but it's a whole heck
of a lot closer than what we ended up getting.
And so originally that was supposed to be the deal. Well,
the GM of the of the Lakers comes back to
Harrison and says, you know, Luca's kind of had you know,
(13:15):
the string of injuries. Man, this is a really big
risk for us. Oh, by the way, what's Anthony Davis's nickname?
Street clothes. Why because he misses so many games in
his career. Okay, so aside from that, you know, this
is a really big risk for us, right, so I'm
(13:36):
not feeling comfortable with, you know, adult to connect and
two first round draft picks, how about ad and Max
Christy and one first round draft pick four years from
now in twenty twenty nine, and Nico Harrison, I think
because of his relationship, and I think because he's naive
(13:57):
at making deals like this, you know, approves it and
they move forward with it, and the deal goes through,
you know, and you know, and so man, it's certainly
again there there could be this this Vegas aspect of it.
But you know, I just I think that Harrison was
(14:21):
absolutely naive in this, and I think he allowed his
friendship to put blinders on and allowed him to get
taken advantage of you know, well, no, I mean there
were a couple of other things. I was just going
to say just about how how how bad this deal is.
(14:45):
I don't know if I could, you know, I'm okay
to keep talking here for a minute. I did a
lot of research for this because I was like, ready,
let's go, you know, And so you know, I think
I think I said this earlier this week when when
this first came out. You know two things. Number One,
for the Mavericks, this could have been our herschel Walker deal.
(15:09):
And you know, we all know what happened with the
herschel Walker deal. The largest trade in NFL history, involved
eighteen players, but we traded away as the Dallas Cowboys
herschel Walker, you know, to the Vikings for three first
round draft picks and three second round draft picks along
(15:32):
with you know, a handful of players that exchanged hands
in this whole deal, and you would be hard pressed
to find anyone that would say that didn't directly lead
to Super Bowls in the coming years because of all
that we got as a result of that deal. This
(15:53):
could have been the Mavericks herschel Walker deal, that could
have set them up for the future. And I would
already argue they were set up for the future with Luca.
But if you're gonna get rid of him just because
you don't like him or whatever the reasons were, you
could have gotten a haul in return, and it really
(16:15):
could have set you up for the future. So recent
NBA trade that happened just a few years ago Rudy
Gobert gets traded from Utah to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Right,
do you know what he what they got Utah got
in return for Rudy Gobert. We're not talking about you know,
(16:37):
Lebron James. You know, we're not talking about you know,
ad Jason Tatum or something like that. No, we're talking
about Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert brought four first round draft
picks to the Utah Jazz, one of which they've used
to draft former Baylor great Keante George. Four first round
(17:00):
draft picks, as well as some other players that Minnesota
sent to Utah for one player, Rudy Gobert. So, I mean,
so there, there's there's there's precedent that has been set for,
you know, a massive deal for you know, a a
(17:21):
good to great player, right, and so that just you
look at that, and it just makes this just look
so much worse.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Okay, And those are great points. And I really don't
disagree with you on your evaluation of Nico Harrison at all.
I mean, the guy stupid. I just let's just call
it what it is. He's an idiot. However, ownership had
to approve this trade, and they did, and they did
(17:56):
it without blinking an eye from everybody, from every everything
that said. And these people are smart business people. You
don't sell off your number one asset in truly anger
your fan base, and they did. That's why I think
there's something to the rumors. The other thing that I'm
going to throw out here, I'm just gonna throw this
(18:19):
out and this was just in thinking. I also find
it interesting how the NBA commissioner has said zilch, because
there is presidents for this. Back in the seventies, the
Oakland A's won three World Series in a row and
Charlie Finley was a nutcase of an owner and he
(18:41):
decided to trade off his team because he didn't want
to pay. There's all sorts of issues here, but he
wanted to trade them off at bargain basement prices. And
the Commissioner of Baseball stepped in and said, no, for
the good of the game, I'm not going to let
you do this. THEBA missioner at a minimum should have
(19:02):
stepped up and said, guys, do you really realize what
you're doing here? And he had the power to pause
this for a bit, but he chose not to.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Well, the Lakers playing the Lakers playing well is good
for the NBA though.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Right, absolutely, but also Lakers and Celtics at the same time.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Right, but holding competition across the board has proven to
be even better for the NBA if the Lakers and
Celtics are still good.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
So, and I can't correct me if I'm wrong, but
didn't didn't David Stern put a stop to a potential
deal when he was NBA commissioner.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I do believe he did.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm trying to remember details that I can't remember who
was involved, but I was thinking that he did that.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, I do believe he did. I know that the
Commissioner of Baseball has stopped more than one. But the
most famous excuse me, guys, I'm still getting over the
flu here. The most famous one by far was the
Oakland in the seventies. Yeah, there were two Yankees players
who traded wives and made it had a press conference
(20:07):
over it. But that's beyond the point.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, if we don't, it's not that kind of podcast.
But so obviously the most famous trade. I think if
you if you were to take of all the you know,
we talked about the Metroplex, but if you were to
take all of sports historically speaking, and we don't know
really where this Luca deal is going to fit in history.
Luca could be injury prone. He could go to LA
(20:30):
and be a complete bust. He can be like, you know,
the the old revenge body. You know, everyone kind of
makes fun of Luca because he doesn't look like an athlete.
He may be like really Dallas and all of a sudden,
he may be in the best shape of his life
and have you know, rings for each finger. We don't know.
But from a historical perspective, I think, you know, the
(20:50):
Babe Ruth trade has to be number one as the
worst trade ever, and of course the big curse that
Boston had. I don't think you could put this at
the same level just because you know, Boston is I
think a better historically baseball team than the Mavericks are
an NBA basketball team. But it's just kind of interesting
(21:13):
all that's at play, and I'm kind of curious, and
I'll just throw this question out there as we kind
of I want to transition us over to football. But
how much does this, unfortunately give Jerry Jones another argument
to make. This is why I'm the GM guys. This
is why I make these moves myself and I don't
rely on somebody else. I mean, you got to think
(21:34):
there's part of Jerry this morning waking up. I don't
know if the man drinks coffee, whatever he drinks in
the morning, and he's smiling because no one's talking about
the bad Cowboys head coach higher this week. They're all
talking about the Mavericks.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
He's loving it because all of a sudden he can
sit there and say, hey, guys, I'm not the biggest
idiot in town. In Nico Harrison doubled pound on it
for him, because Nico Harrison doesn't even bother to show
up to the introductory press conference.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Like that was that was shocking.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So I thought was that he turns off the comments
on the YouTube live stream so people did not comment
on this. I'm telling you, this guy is an idiot.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I was sitting here, I was working from home yesterday
and got a small TV you know, in here, and
so I turned on the press conference because I was
just curious, like what, you know. What I anticipated was,
you know, one or two questions directed at the three players,
(22:45):
the new players that got traded here, and then all
of a sudden, you know, just people bombarding you know,
Harrison with questions and he didn't even bother to show up.
I've never ever seen an introductory press conference after a
huge trade has been made where the GM wasn't available
(23:08):
to make any kind of comment whatsoever. And so what
did they do that? They ran Mark Followell out there
and so he had to like, you know, he he
had to be, in essence, the spokesperson for the Mavericks
yesterday at the introductory press conference. I mean, what, what
a coward, What an absolute coward to not even show
(23:29):
up and face the music. And now we're hearing that
you know, he's received you know, death threats, and so
he they're they're beefing up security around him. He's not
gonna be sitting where he normally does today at the
game at two o'clock, which I can't wait to see
what happens. Then there's gonna be protests outside of the
AAC today, which man, go for it, fans, just you know,
(23:52):
don't be don't go over the top, okay, but you know,
let's your let your displeasure you know, be known and
and be heard. Not that not that they really care,
you know, but man, what a what a coward did
not even at least Jerry Jones will show up. He does,
at least the hard questions he forever and not ever,
(24:14):
you know, give an answer. But he's at least there,
so at least give him credit for that.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Now, Jones will blow so much smoke at you and
you'll get sick and choke on it. But he's there.
I can't wait to see the applause when Anthony Davis
comes out in the street clothes.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
He's supposed to play today.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Okay, well, good luck with all that. Let's see how
long until he gets hurt?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Oh my gosh, Well listen, it's uh, it's going to
be interesting to see. And of course, like like we said,
we don't really know how this will fully pan out,
but it starts this weekend when the Mavericks are playing
at home and and circle your calendar. What is it,
I don't know, the April April the ninth. Yeah, Luca
will be coming in and I bet there'll be a
(25:01):
huge applause for him. You know, I just want to
say this about Luca. What a class at guy. You know,
he was very honest. He said he saw that, you know,
his entire career would be in Dallas. This was home
to him, and I think for so many one final
thought that I'm going to just add to it. I
think for so many Maverick fans, the love of Luca
(25:22):
was an extension of the love of Dirk, you know,
having these players come over here and we all envision
that next to Dirk's statue would be, uh, you know,
Lucas statue. Not going to happen. Now, Big game this
weekend byram. If you had to hold your nose and
pick the team that you want to win, not who
(25:43):
you think will win, who are you cheering for in
the Super Bowl between Kansas City and Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Hey, I root for the Chiefs because they started.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
In Dallas, Okay, And it's the.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Closest thing we have to a good team right now.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
We do have an owner that lives in that keeps
winning super Bowls. So what about what about you?
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Shirley saying yeah, absolutely, just from the Dallas connection, and
and uh, you know, mahomes Texas kid, right Hunt family man,
a good strong Christian family, you know. And and I
can't I can't ever ever root for the Philadelphia Eagles.
(26:28):
I don't care who they're playing.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So I mean, I like Beagles, but I can't root
for the Beagles.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You like Beagles, but you can't root for the Beagles.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's what I call the Eagles. It was a joke.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Okay, well it's went right over my head, Shirley. Did
you get that joke or yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Kind of laugh?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
All right, So what are you most excited for? As
you as you excited for a good game, excited for
history to be made. You know, if it could be
Kansas City winning the first team to ever win three row?
Are you excited about the Super Bowl commercials?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm excited about the history aspect of it. Kansas City
winning three in a row. Yeah, I would agree with that.
I mean, I hope it's a good game.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Nobody really want to see a blowout, but I would
love to see Kansas City, you know, make history, went
in three in a row. And you know, interesting nugget
about the matchup here. You know, obviously we know Philly
is is a with with Barkley and Hurts at quarterback,
(27:31):
is really you know, kind of more of a un
run heavy team, even though they've got two really good,
you know, wide receivers. So Steve Spagnolo, the defensive coordinator
for Kansas City. In all of his playoff games that
he's coached in, and I don't know how many it is,
but it's a bunch. His defense has only given up
(27:54):
a one hundred yard rusher one time in all of
the playoff appearances. That was against the Dallas Cowboys and
Marion Barber in two thousand and seven when he was
with the Giants. So I mean, that's gonna be I
think that's gonna be the matchup right, It's gonna be
Spegnola's rushing defense against you know, Philadelphia's rushing offense.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
So I also go back to the fact that Andy
Reid's record when he has two weeks to prepare is unbelievable,
and I honestly think it's his preparation it's going to
be the difference in this game.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
If the Chiefs pull it off. And I'll end with
this question because it's kind of fun to think about,
where do you begin to rank this error of the
NFL with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Where
does this team rank amongst the great teams? And you've
(28:53):
got to put Tom Brady in his years in New
England up at the top. You got to put you know,
the Cowboys run and the nineteen nineties in there. There's
certainly San Francisco has had some runs, Pittsburgh as well.
I mean a lot of great teams. You know, where
would you rank this team and this incredible run that
they've had in Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
They're a great team. They wouldn't beat the seventies Steelers
or Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Oh yeah, I don't. I don't know. Yeah, I don't
think they beat the nineties Cowboys either. Yeah, I don't.
I don't really know. I mean I think they are.
I mean they're they're they're really good. They're really good team.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I see. To me, I would rank them high. And
here's why. What Kansas City has been able to do
in the salary cap error, it's pretty impressive. So when
you talk about those earlier teams, you know, the Cowboys
in the nineties, Man, if there was no salary cap,
Cowboys would probably be winning Super Bowls all the time.
(30:01):
Because while Jerry's cheap on his coaches, he'll pay for
players if he feels like he can, you know, get
the return on investment and win some championships. We saw that.
So it's like, you know, Jerry Jones great owner before
the salary cap. He's not been able to manage the
salary cap, and few teams have been able to. So
(30:22):
when you pop up and you win one super Bowl, like, okay,
that's great. You know you had a lucky run to
be able to. I mean, how many Super Bowls? I'm embarrassed.
I don't know this off the top of my head.
How many have they won already? Kansas City Mahomes.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Has won three?
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah, so four total as a organization because they won
Super Bowl four.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Okay, so so he has won three super Bowls already.
This will be number four. So obviously he's not in
the same realm as a Tom Brady yet. But how
old is Mahomes? I mean, he's got a lot of
life left in him, right, I mean he's going to
be playing at least for another three maybe four seasons.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I would say even more than that.
I don't know how old he is. My guess would
be around right around thirty. Maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Well, he's gonna have one up on every other one.
If he wins tomorrow and having three in a.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Row, he'll be the only one to ever do it. Yeah.
You know, the one thing that I like Patrick Mahomes.
He's a fun, fun player to watch. My only beef
I have with him is because of Patrick Mahomes. And
I don't know if this has happened in your household,
surely having two having two boys, teenage boys, but because
(31:38):
of Patrick Mahomes, there's so many white kids out there
getting perms, trying to make their It's like, really, you're not,
Patrick Mahomes. Quit trying. So anyway, Yeah, all right, we'll
end it on that note until next time. So long, everybody,
Welcome into another conversation with the chriss. I'm Scott Miller,
as always, joined by Chris Byrom and Chris Shirley, and
surely we're going to start with you this week. Perhaps
the dumbest move in DFW sports history. Of course, everyone's
talking about it, and you're very passionate about it. I
(00:20):
would say amongst the three of us, you're more passionate
about basketball. Is that fair to say?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I mean possibly. I mean I don't. I don't follow
the NBA as closely, you know, as as I used to.
But you know, I've got two boys that you know,
love basketball. You know, they could name all the players
and who they play for, and probably even name their stats,
(00:46):
you know, and so that kind of keeps me involved
in in the NBA game. I certainly, I certainly you know,
much more passionate about Baylor basssketball and about college basketball.
I much rather watch college basketball any day than an
NBA game. But when you know, when you have a
(01:10):
generational player like we do, or should I say did
on the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, you know you
you uh, maybe you follow you know, the Mavericks of
a little more closely, you know, than than you you
would otherwise. So so yeah, you know, maybe we can
(01:33):
all go back and talk about you know, when we
heard or how we found out, you know. So you know,
last Sunday morning and get up and even before I
saw the text messages from from you and and Chris,
I'd seen I guess it was a Bleacher report that
said something about imagining Luka Doncic in a Lakers uniform,
(01:58):
and I was like, what, what what is that about?
And then I read your text messages and I was like, wait,
hold on, what what is going on here? Like this
has got to be some kind of joke, some kind
of praying. This can't be real. We can't have just
you know, traded away our our generational player, you know,
(02:20):
in the middle of the night, when when nobody, nobody
on planet Earth had had talked about this is even
being a possibility.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
This was completely you.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Know, out of out of the blue, and so man
that you know, I started reading more and more about it.
I was like, like this really happened, Like we we
really did just trade him away, and you know, reading
about what we were getting back, I mean, I was
(02:53):
it was it was weird, Like I mean, and I
don't want to like I'm not I'm not trying to
overstate this. This is not really how parblet, but it
was just it was. It was so weird. It's like
this mixture of just absolute surprise and shock as well
as like a little bit of like the beginning of
(03:18):
a grieving process like that that we we didn't have that,
you know, that player anymore. We weren't going to get
to watch him, you know, do you know do his
his his thing, which is is pretty amazing, you know,
on a on a night night in night out basis.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And so.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, it's just it was, it was. It was really
just kind of a strange feeling.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's interesting to describe me that way because I've kind
of seen that on social media from my friends who
are Rabbit Mavericks fans. They've kind of gone through that.
It's that, you know, what's the stages of grief, right,
you know, from shock to a to depression. It's like,
if you know any really diehard Mavericks fans, you might
(04:05):
want to check on them today just to make sure
they're okay. Byron, let's put this into an historical perspective
that we can as far as moves amongst DFWS sports,
I mean, we have seen over the years the Texas
Rangers have had some great players that end up playing
for the Yankees, and you can easily argue that the
(04:27):
Lakers are like the Yankees of the NBA. So in
that respects, this is not the first time we've had
a great player that has ended up elsewhere. But from
an historical perspective, as you think back on some really
dumb sports moves that the Metroplex teams have had, and
Jerry Jones is on that list for sure, where does
(04:50):
this rank in your mind?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There's nothing like it at all. I can think of
a couple of trades in the NFL back in the
fifty sixties, but they don't even come close to this,
Because you've got just a couple of really interesting facts
in this. You've got a player who led your team
(05:12):
to the NBA Finals the year before. You've got a
marquee team in the NBA that's about to be wondering
what are we going to do without a marquis star
Because the space at Lebron James is getting very old,
and all of a sudden has this handed to them,
and some of the reports that are coming out make
this even more stunning that the original Dill had the
(05:35):
Mavericks getting a lot more number one picks, maybe a
couple of other players, but the GM for the Lakers
was able to talk them down, saying that Luke is
an injury risk. There's also the simple fact that the
Mavericks GM did not bother to even shop around to
see is there anything better out there? This thing smells
(05:57):
to high heaven And I don't normally say that, but
I this one for me. Excuse me, it does, and
I think it is either stunningly stupid or something else
is at play here.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, you know, and there's a lot of theories that
are going around that we've we've heard and probably people
listening to this podcast to have heard. And it seems
like the number one theory goes to the ownership of
the Mavericks. Now, remember Mark Cuban sold the majority ownership,
he still has a stake in the team. So has
anybody heard from Cuban. I'm kind of curious what Cuban's thinking.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
He but said that he no longer has any role
in the day to day operations and he was not consulted. Okay,
and he found out when everybody else found.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Out the c YA statement, right, But you know it's
it's interesting because I think the biggest theory, and Byron
you you kind of brought this to our our little
text group, is the ownership has a desire to build
a new arena in Dallas that includes a casino. Now,
(07:11):
as things stand today in February of twenty twenty five,
he can't do that. Casinos are not allowed in Texas.
So a lot of people are starting to say, could
this be the first play to tank a team, to
move them and become the Las Vegas Mavericks, which, of
(07:32):
course would be a different type of maverick, right, it
would be the card playing type. Do you think that's
what's behind this?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, there's a couple of interesting developments in that since
we've talked about this. I do think there's something behind this.
There is the theory that the Addelson's bought the Mavericks
specifically to try to put pressure on the Texas government
to open up casino gambling and also sportsbooks. Well, that
(08:02):
has not worked for a lot of reasons in Texas politics.
Is a very unique group right now, and the three
big donors behind the legislature are absolutely against it and
will not allow it to happen. So yes, I do
(08:22):
think there is some something to that. I do know
that the Addleson's own a large portion of land next
to Texas Stadium that they would love the old side
of Texas Stadium. I should say that they would love
to turn into an arena and a casino. And I
think if they don't get that the idea is, well,
(08:43):
then let's move the Mavericks to Vegas, because honestly, they
probably could care less about the people of Dallas, as
they showed with this trade. The other thing that is
interesting here, though, is in the last week since this
trade took place, the governor has come out and said, hey,
I really probably wouldn't mind casino gambling, which is the
(09:05):
strongest statement of endorsement by a Texas official ever. And
it's going to get interesting. It will not happen this
legislative session. Dan Patrick has already said I'm not letting
it even come to a vote on the floor, So
it's not going to happen. And Dan Patrick is the
(09:26):
biggest roadblock to this right now. But there's tons of
rumors that Dan Patrick won't even run for lieutenant governor
next time. So who knows, But definitely the Addamsons have
put in millions of dollars already trying to lobby the
Texas government. So I think there's something to that rumor.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's you know, it's fascinating for sure. And I saw
that interview where the governor mentioned that he would be
open to having it be an actual vote, like putting
on the ballot so Texans can vote followed by and
surely this is the this is the funny part about
the little clip I saw in the news. You know,
(10:04):
I want to make sure if we're going to open
up you know, sports betting and open up casinos, that
we have rules in place to protect you know, the
grandma or the person who doesn't have that much money
from being able to go down to seven to eleven
and losing all their money. And I thought they already can.
There's already a lottery, right, we don't need extra betting
(10:24):
for that to happen. But you know, what are your
thoughts on this? I mean, you think, you know, do
you agree that this is probably what's at play and
ownership that really cares more about casino than they care
about the Mavericks.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So certainly that could that could be a you know,
a part of this. But man, you know, just all
that I've read this week about this deal, you know,
and it has just seemed to get worse and worse
right as we've we've already you know, kind of stipulated here.
(10:58):
But you know, it's it seems like that one of
the main reasons why this deal was not shopped was because, uh,
you know several reasons. Number One, Nico Harrison in the
trades that he's made since he's been here, he's he
has traded for players that he has had some type
(11:20):
of relationship with. So we all know he came from Nike.
He was you know, he was an exec with Nike,
but he primarily dealt with you know, NBA players as
it related to you know, Nike deals, Nike endorsements, and
so he's he's bringing play players that he had a
previous relationship with, or he's worked with gms that he
(11:43):
had a relationship with stemming back to his time at Nike.
And so he's had a long term, a twenty plus
year relationship with the GM at the Lakers, and you know,
we've all we probably all saw the this this shots
yesterday from the Dallas coffee shop where you know, the
beginnings of this trade idea we're being hatched that were
(12:07):
out there yesterday, you know, and I certainly the vguus
aspect of this, you know, kind of you know, causes
you to just kind of scratch your head and raise
your eyebrow and go like, yeah, there could be something
more to this. But on the other hand, you know,
could it simply be that there there was there was
(12:32):
a friendship that was taken advantage of here and because
of the friendship, because of the relationship, you know, Harrison,
you know, originally this deal was supposed to be a
d Dalton connect and two first round draft picks, right,
(12:52):
and you know, in my mind that's still not exactly
equal as far as value, but it's a whole heck
of a lot closer than what we ended up getting.
And so originally that was supposed to be the deal. Well,
the GM of the of the Lakers comes back to
Harrison and says, you know, Luca's kind of had you know,
(13:15):
the string of injuries. Man, this is a really big
risk for us. Oh, by the way, what's Anthony Davis's nickname?
Street clothes. Why because he misses so many games in
his career. Okay, so aside from that, you know, this
is a really big risk for us, right, so I'm
(13:36):
not feeling comfortable with, you know, adult to connect and
two first round draft picks, how about ad and Max
Christy and one first round draft pick four years from
now in twenty twenty nine, and Nico Harrison, I think
because of his relationship, and I think because he's naive
(13:57):
at making deals like this, you know, approves it and
they move forward with it, and the deal goes through,
you know, and you know, and so man, it's certainly
again there there could be this this Vegas aspect of it.
But you know, I just I think that Harrison was
(14:21):
absolutely naive in this, and I think he allowed his
friendship to put blinders on and allowed him to get
taken advantage of you know, well, no, I mean there
were a couple of other things. I was just going
to say just about how how how bad this deal is.
(14:45):
I don't know if I could, you know, I'm okay
to keep talking here for a minute. I did a
lot of research for this because I was like, ready,
let's go, you know, And so you know, I think
I think I said this earlier this week when when
this first came out. You know two things. Number One,
for the Mavericks, this could have been our herschel Walker deal.
(15:09):
And you know, we all know what happened with the
herschel Walker deal. The largest trade in NFL history, involved
eighteen players, but we traded away as the Dallas Cowboys
herschel Walker, you know, to the Vikings for three first
round draft picks and three second round draft picks along
(15:32):
with you know, a handful of players that exchanged hands
in this whole deal, and you would be hard pressed
to find anyone that would say that didn't directly lead
to Super Bowls in the coming years because of all
that we got as a result of that deal. This
(15:53):
could have been the Mavericks herschel Walker deal, that could
have set them up for the future. And I would
already argue they were set up for the future with Luca.
But if you're gonna get rid of him just because
you don't like him or whatever the reasons were, you
could have gotten a haul in return, and it really
(16:15):
could have set you up for the future. So recent
NBA trade that happened just a few years ago Rudy
Gobert gets traded from Utah to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Right,
do you know what he what they got Utah got
in return for Rudy Gobert. We're not talking about you know,
(16:37):
Lebron James. You know, we're not talking about you know,
ad Jason Tatum or something like that. No, we're talking
about Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert brought four first round draft
picks to the Utah Jazz, one of which they've used
to draft former Baylor great Keante George. Four first round
(17:00):
draft picks, as well as some other players that Minnesota
sent to Utah for one player, Rudy Gobert. So, I mean,
so there, there's there's there's precedent that has been set for,
you know, a massive deal for you know, a a
(17:21):
good to great player, right, and so that just you
look at that, and it just makes this just look
so much worse.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Okay, And those are great points. And I really don't
disagree with you on your evaluation of Nico Harrison at all.
I mean, the guy stupid. I just let's just call
it what it is. He's an idiot. However, ownership had
to approve this trade, and they did, and they did
(17:56):
it without blinking an eye from everybody, from every everything
that said. And these people are smart business people. You
don't sell off your number one asset in truly anger
your fan base, and they did. That's why I think
there's something to the rumors. The other thing that I'm
going to throw out here, I'm just gonna throw this
(18:19):
out and this was just in thinking. I also find
it interesting how the NBA commissioner has said zilch, because
there is presidents for this. Back in the seventies, the
Oakland A's won three World Series in a row and
Charlie Finley was a nutcase of an owner and he
(18:41):
decided to trade off his team because he didn't want
to pay. There's all sorts of issues here, but he
wanted to trade them off at bargain basement prices. And
the Commissioner of Baseball stepped in and said, no, for
the good of the game, I'm not going to let
you do this. THEBA missioner at a minimum should have
(19:02):
stepped up and said, guys, do you really realize what
you're doing here? And he had the power to pause
this for a bit, but he chose not to.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Well, the Lakers playing the Lakers playing well is good
for the NBA though.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Right, absolutely, but also Lakers and Celtics at the same time.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Right, but holding competition across the board has proven to
be even better for the NBA if the Lakers and
Celtics are still good.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
So, and I can't correct me if I'm wrong, but
didn't didn't David Stern put a stop to a potential
deal when he was NBA commissioner.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I do believe he did.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I'm trying to remember details that I can't remember who
was involved, but I was thinking that he did that.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, I do believe he did. I know that the
Commissioner of Baseball has stopped more than one. But the
most famous excuse me, guys, I'm still getting over the
flu here. The most famous one by far was the
Oakland in the seventies. Yeah, there were two Yankees players
who traded wives and made it had a press conference
(20:07):
over it. But that's beyond the point.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, if we don't, it's not that kind of podcast.
But so obviously the most famous trade. I think if
you if you were to take of all the you know,
we talked about the Metroplex, but if you were to
take all of sports historically speaking, and we don't know
really where this Luca deal is going to fit in history.
Luca could be injury prone. He could go to LA
(20:30):
and be a complete bust. He can be like, you know,
the the old revenge body. You know, everyone kind of
makes fun of Luca because he doesn't look like an athlete.
He may be like really Dallas and all of a sudden,
he may be in the best shape of his life
and have you know, rings for each finger. We don't know.
But from a historical perspective, I think, you know, the
(20:50):
Babe Ruth trade has to be number one as the
worst trade ever, and of course the big curse that
Boston had. I don't think you could put this at
the same level just because you know, Boston is I
think a better historically baseball team than the Mavericks are
an NBA basketball team. But it's just kind of interesting
(21:13):
all that's at play, and I'm kind of curious, and
I'll just throw this question out there as we kind
of I want to transition us over to football. But
how much does this, unfortunately give Jerry Jones another argument
to make. This is why I'm the GM guys. This
is why I make these moves myself and I don't
rely on somebody else. I mean, you got to think
(21:34):
there's part of Jerry this morning waking up. I don't
know if the man drinks coffee, whatever he drinks in
the morning, and he's smiling because no one's talking about
the bad Cowboys head coach higher this week. They're all
talking about the Mavericks.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
He's loving it because all of a sudden he can
sit there and say, hey, guys, I'm not the biggest
idiot in town. In Nico Harrison doubled pound on it
for him, because Nico Harrison doesn't even bother to show
up to the introductory press conference.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Like that was that was shocking.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So I thought was that he turns off the comments
on the YouTube live stream so people did not comment
on this. I'm telling you, this guy is an idiot.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
I was sitting here, I was working from home yesterday
and got a small TV you know, in here, and
so I turned on the press conference because I was
just curious, like what, you know. What I anticipated was,
you know, one or two questions directed at the three players,
(22:45):
the new players that got traded here, and then all
of a sudden, you know, just people bombarding you know,
Harrison with questions and he didn't even bother to show up.
I've never ever seen an introductory press conference after a
huge trade has been made where the GM wasn't available
(23:08):
to make any kind of comment whatsoever. And so what
did they do that? They ran Mark Followell out there
and so he had to like, you know, he he
had to be, in essence, the spokesperson for the Mavericks
yesterday at the introductory press conference. I mean, what, what
a coward, What an absolute coward to not even show
(23:29):
up and face the music. And now we're hearing that
you know, he's received you know, death threats, and so
he they're they're beefing up security around him. He's not
gonna be sitting where he normally does today at the
game at two o'clock, which I can't wait to see
what happens. Then there's gonna be protests outside of the
AAC today, which man, go for it, fans, just you know,
(23:52):
don't be don't go over the top, okay, but you know,
let's your let your displeasure you know, be known and
and be heard. Not that not that they really care,
you know, but man, what a what a coward did
not even at least Jerry Jones will show up. He does,
at least the hard questions he forever and not ever,
(24:14):
you know, give an answer. But he's at least there,
so at least give him credit for that.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Now, Jones will blow so much smoke at you and
you'll get sick and choke on it. But he's there.
I can't wait to see the applause when Anthony Davis
comes out in the street clothes.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
He's supposed to play today.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Okay, well, good luck with all that. Let's see how
long until he gets hurt?
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Oh my gosh, Well listen, it's uh, it's going to
be interesting to see. And of course, like like we said,
we don't really know how this will fully pan out,
but it starts this weekend when the Mavericks are playing
at home and and circle your calendar. What is it,
I don't know, the April April the ninth. Yeah, Luca
will be coming in and I bet there'll be a
(25:01):
huge applause for him. You know, I just want to
say this about Luca. What a class at guy. You know,
he was very honest. He said he saw that, you know,
his entire career would be in Dallas. This was home
to him, and I think for so many one final
thought that I'm going to just add to it. I
think for so many Maverick fans, the love of Luca
(25:22):
was an extension of the love of Dirk, you know,
having these players come over here and we all envision
that next to Dirk's statue would be, uh, you know,
Lucas statue. Not going to happen. Now, Big game this
weekend byram. If you had to hold your nose and
pick the team that you want to win, not who
(25:43):
you think will win, who are you cheering for in
the Super Bowl between Kansas City and Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Hey, I root for the Chiefs because they started.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
In Dallas, Okay, And it's the.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Closest thing we have to a good team right now.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
We do have an owner that lives in that keeps
winning super Bowls. So what about what about you?
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Shirley saying yeah, absolutely, just from the Dallas connection, and
and uh, you know, mahomes Texas kid, right Hunt family man,
a good strong Christian family, you know. And and I
can't I can't ever ever root for the Philadelphia Eagles.
(26:28):
I don't care who they're playing.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So I mean, I like Beagles, but I can't root
for the Beagles.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
You like Beagles, but you can't root for the Beagles.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's what I call the Eagles. It was a joke.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Okay, well it's went right over my head, Shirley. Did
you get that joke or yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Kind of laugh?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
All right, So what are you most excited for? As
you as you excited for a good game, excited for
history to be made. You know, if it could be
Kansas City winning the first team to ever win three row?
Are you excited about the Super Bowl commercials?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I'm excited about the history aspect of it. Kansas City
winning three in a row. Yeah, I would agree with that.
I mean, I hope it's a good game.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Nobody really want to see a blowout, but I would
love to see Kansas City, you know, make history, went
in three in a row. And you know, interesting nugget
about the matchup here. You know, obviously we know Philly
is is a with with Barkley and Hurts at quarterback,
(27:31):
is really you know, kind of more of a un
run heavy team, even though they've got two really good,
you know, wide receivers. So Steve Spagnolo, the defensive coordinator
for Kansas City. In all of his playoff games that
he's coached in, and I don't know how many it is,
but it's a bunch. His defense has only given up
(27:54):
a one hundred yard rusher one time in all of
the playoff appearances. That was against the Dallas Cowboys and
Marion Barber in two thousand and seven when he was
with the Giants. So I mean, that's gonna be I
think that's gonna be the matchup right, It's gonna be
Spegnola's rushing defense against you know, Philadelphia's rushing offense.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
So I also go back to the fact that Andy
Reid's record when he has two weeks to prepare is unbelievable,
and I honestly think it's his preparation it's going to
be the difference in this game.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
If the Chiefs pull it off. And I'll end with
this question because it's kind of fun to think about,
where do you begin to rank this error of the
NFL with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Where
does this team rank amongst the great teams? And you've
(28:53):
got to put Tom Brady in his years in New
England up at the top. You got to put you know,
the Cowboys run and the nineteen nineties in there. There's
certainly San Francisco has had some runs, Pittsburgh as well.
I mean a lot of great teams. You know, where
would you rank this team and this incredible run that
they've had in Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
They're a great team. They wouldn't beat the seventies Steelers
or Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Oh yeah, I don't. I don't know. Yeah, I don't
think they beat the nineties Cowboys either. Yeah, I don't.
I don't really know. I mean I think they are.
I mean they're they're they're really good. They're really good team.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I see. To me, I would rank them high. And
here's why. What Kansas City has been able to do
in the salary cap error, it's pretty impressive. So when
you talk about those earlier teams, you know, the Cowboys
in the nineties, Man, if there was no salary cap,
Cowboys would probably be winning Super Bowls all the time.
(30:01):
Because while Jerry's cheap on his coaches, he'll pay for
players if he feels like he can, you know, get
the return on investment and win some championships. We saw that.
So it's like, you know, Jerry Jones great owner before
the salary cap. He's not been able to manage the
salary cap, and few teams have been able to. So
(30:22):
when you pop up and you win one super Bowl, like, okay,
that's great. You know you had a lucky run to
be able to. I mean, how many Super Bowls? I'm embarrassed.
I don't know this off the top of my head.
How many have they won already? Kansas City Mahomes.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Has won three?
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah, so four total as a organization because they won
Super Bowl four.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Okay, so so he has won three super Bowls already.
This will be number four. So obviously he's not in
the same realm as a Tom Brady yet. But how
old is Mahomes? I mean, he's got a lot of
life left in him, right, I mean he's going to
be playing at least for another three maybe four seasons.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I would say even more than that.
I don't know how old he is. My guess would
be around right around thirty. Maybe.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Well, he's gonna have one up on every other one.
If he wins tomorrow and having three in a.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Row, he'll be the only one to ever do it. Yeah.
You know, the one thing that I like Patrick Mahomes.
He's a fun, fun player to watch. My only beef
I have with him is because of Patrick Mahomes. And
I don't know if this has happened in your household,
surely having two having two boys, teenage boys, but because
(31:38):
of Patrick Mahomes, there's so many white kids out there
getting perms, trying to make their It's like, really, you're not,
Patrick Mahomes. Quit trying. So anyway, Yeah, all right, we'll
end it on that note until next time. So long, everybody,
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