There’s a lot of things that baffle the mind in the sports world. From unbelievable comebacks to watching insane catches, runs, throws, and defensive plays, crazy things happen all the time. With today’s insanely athletic young players, young and even quite old, there can always be a reason to watch and keep up with sports. Some conspiracy theorists obviously would label some of these events as scripted or rigged, but regardless, you can’t deny that a crazy half-court buzzer beater to win the game is ridiculously mind-blowing, real or scripted. But you know what’s also incredibly mind-blowing? Being the general manager of a professional NBA team worth an estimated $4.7 bln and having the audacity to not only trade your ultra mega-superstar away but to actually say that you didn’t know how much the fans valued said ultra mega-superstar. UHHH, WHAT?

Of course, I’m talking about the Luka Doncic trade to the Los Angeles Lakers debacle. Like literally everyone else, I was just shocked and stunned when I received the notification on my phone that the trade had happened. And no, it was not a joke. But unlike others, I didn’t really dissect the trade and the possible outcomes. Anthony Davis went to the Mavericks and Luka Doncic went to the Lakers. OK, cool. Personally, I don’t have a “sports team.” I just cheer for players that I like to watch and for games that I do catch, hope that it will be an exciting one and not end in a blowout. I really thought that would be the end of it…..Until today. When I saw the headline, I instantly knew that it would be the next article in my “Can I be…” sports series and rant. This one is really mind-boggling because I didn’t know why it needed to be said. In what world is a general manager living in to say that he “underestimated” and didn’t “realize” how important Luka Doncic, literally your team’s primary ultra-mega triple superstar, was to the Dallas Mavericks fanbase? WHY WOULD YOU UTTER THOSE WORDS?! WHY?????!!!!!

OK, calm down. Let’s rewind just a bit. We’re looking at you Nico Harrison. I obviously don’t know the entire saga of why certain things proceeded the way they did but I can only speculate and tell it how I see it. Let’s see how stupid this can get in a hurry.

Luka Doncic. He’s been a Dallas Maverick player for six and a half season and literally one of the main reasons why fans actually go to the games. I mean, you could end the argument right there, couldn’t you? But of course not. We need to bring in YouTube for evidence.

I mean, where was the dude when these plays happened? Nico’s been appointed the GM of the Mavericks only in 2021, but c’mon man. You still can’t be that dense to not know your history of Luka and what he does for the Mavericks team. Does he also not hear and see the crowd absolutely going bonkers? Does he not know he’s called Luka Magic for a reason?

OK, so maybe Nico doesn’t actually like to watch basketball? Even of the team that he manages? But then what about the money? That should always get corporate’s attention, right? It was just reported that Luka Dončić has topped the NBA’s most sold jerseys for the 2024-2025 season, and he’s the first-ever non-American to accomplish that feat. Sure, lots of Laker fans have purchased his jersey since the trade, but you can’t just become the leading jersey seller overnight in a league with so many other megastars. Luka’s been an NBA superstar since he came into the league, and his stardom has only grown every year since then. He’s basically an investment. And I’m just talking about jersey sales. What about money for other merchandise like bobbleheads, t-shirts, etc.? What about the advertisement money that he brings to the organization?

OK, so maybe Nico doesn’t actually watch Mavericks basketball and notices that 8 out of 10 fans have Luka jerseys on AND looks at the books to see how much money he brings into the organization. So what’s the next thing one can do if they are unsure of something? Oh, I know…HOW ABOUT ASKING SOMEONE! As idiotic as this may sound, especially for someone in the position of general manager whose job I suppose is to keep up with your own damn team to begin with, the city of Dallas is pretty big. With all that money the organization is making, did you not think for one minute to put up a survey of some sort to see how fans might react if Luka’s traded away? Like maybe have the biggest and most popular sports radio talk show in the city do an experiment of this kind and see what fans have to say? As the GM, did he maybe think he was above mingling with the actual Maverick fans themselves and having an Ask Me Anything type of event? Again, put out some subtle hints out there to see how fans would react if Luka was no longer a Maverick?

So again, as to the why they made the decision to trade Luka away is none of my concern. It could have been due to his lack of defense, unwillingness to work with his team and coaches on and off the court, him being a diva, contract issues, or his unwillingness to lose weight. It literally doesn’t matter to me. I can only assume that no one in their right mind can likely believe Nico Harrison was the only executive that signed off on that trade. There are also the team owners who have a say in the operations of the team as well. Is Nico the scapegoat in this trade drama? I honestly don’t care. Do I find it a bit sad that fans all over were chanting “Fire Nico” at games? Yes, a little, but ultimately didn’t care long enough. But then he goes on to say this about how he underestimated and didn’t realize how important Luka was to the fans and all sympathy went out the window. Did dude get so blazed and lit on 4/20 that he forgot he shouldn’t have said this the day after? People have short memories, and I’m sure even the most hardcore Mavericks basketball fan will eventually move on. No choice in that part. But how can dude possibly go anywhere public at the moment without being heckled? I read that the trade to get Anthony Davis was to beef up their overall defense. Well, they just lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament and are officially out of the playoffs. The Grizzlies then got whooped in spectacular fashion by the OKC Thunder in Game 1.