How trade Luka Dončić led to one of the most bleak routes for every fan base in modern sports history

Cnn
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On February 1st, the fans of Dallas Mavericks woke up from a close defeat against the Detroit Pistons the night before. Her team was still in eighth place and struggled to leave the playoff races of the NBA, and was three games over 500.

When they woke up the next morning, the sky fell.

On February 2 at 12.12 p.m. ET, the Shams Charnia from ESPN on X, that Luka Dončić-and the 25-year-old megastar of the Mavericks, which was expected, was expected to act for the next decade or the cornerstone of her franchise-the Los Angeles Lakers. The news fascinated a city.

“I woke up at three in the morning and I just saw a notification on my cell phone and overturned me and looked at me and said: ‘Oh my god!’,” Dallas fan John Tarrant told CNN Sports. “Of course my wife was startled … she goes:” What’s going on? “I said:” The Mavs exchanged Luka! “And I think she rolled up and fell asleep again.”

When he had to share the news with his boys in the morning – their favorite player, whose numbers they wear on their own basketball jerseys and whose eyelashes decorate their walls – they were incredulously.

“I just said,” You joke ‘and went back in, “said Hank Tarrant.

“I was shocked and thought they joked,” added Sam Tarrant.

Dončić makes his first trip to Dallas on Wednesday evening when the Lakers play the Mavs, a journey that is certainly full of emotions – for Dončić, his teammates and the thousands of fans in the arena who have exchanged Mavericks for the trade with a fan superstar.

Rarely has the season of a team left behind from a self -inflicted step. The Mavericks 12-18 went in the more than six weeks since the deal, lost Anthony Davis-the main player, whom they received in return for Dončić in his first game in his first game with the team, lost an injury, lost the Talisman Kyrie Irving for an ACL injury and observed how a number of other players were injured. At the same time, they watched their former Star in LA together with LeBron James and the rest of Hollywood’s elite.

It is potentially the worst route in the season for every American sports fan base in modern history. A brilliant future suddenly seems to be dark and unsure, a franchise icon is now getting used to beaches and palm trees and the best players in the team are on the sidelines instead of the court.

The reaction of MAVS fans: a mixture of despair and rebellion. The fans are expanding their team, General Manager Nico Harrison sang to be released, and buy – unbelievable, for some of them – buy Lakers jerseys and start to follow Dončić’s new team.

“I will always be a MAVS fan, you are our local team. But will I invest so emotionally in you? It will rebuild a lot and build up our confidence in the franchise in the future,” John Tarrant told CNN.

General Manager of the team, the man who orchestrated the deal has taken the main burden of criticism.

Sangs of “Fire Nico!” I broke out all over Dallas – a video on X has even shown people who sing it into a local Middle Ages. The news that came from the Mavericks organization after Dončić’s trade trade had beaten up in the franchise in which he revealed frustration through his diet.

The treatment of a player who was widely worshiped in Dallas as an icon, especially less than a year after an NBA final, passed like a ton of bricks.

“Everyone wants to show mistakes on Lukas, at least for half a second,” Mavs Fan Matthew Slovaka told CNN. “The overwhelming narrative is that this is the most ridiculous thing, but there was, ‘yes, but.’ There is no ‘yes, but.’ – This is the most unsustainable trade ever.

In a press conference after trade, Harrison defended the move as prudent, who improved the defense of the team and was also a potentially messy contract negotiations.

“There are some unique things about his contract that we had to pay attention to. There are other teams that were charged. He would be able to make his own decision, whether he wants to be here or not whether we want a supermax or not or whether he wants to unsubscribe,” said Harrison. “I think we had to take all of this into account and have the feeling of getting out before a turbulent summer.”

It is certainly to say that Harrison’s justification for the deal has not convinced many – not even his trade from Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers because the guard in the city of fraternal love caught fire.

“You have no reason to believe in something you could do because it simply makes no sense,” said Dallas fan Skylar Alcala. “It will never make sense.”

A weight in the team and on the fans

The negative energy around the Mavericks is noticeable. Fans are expanding, she mouths the words “Fire Nico!” When you get on the screen during the games and keep protests outside the stadium.

And the players notice. The striker PJ Washington was angry with a fan who screamed Harrison to lose his job while the Dallas player shot a free throw.

“Ultimately, the trade happened. We understand that we now have a new team. All of the” fire nico “, we are fed up with hearing it. We just want to go out and play there and play the fans to support each other,” he said.

The feelings in Washington are understandable because the source of the fans is more of the front office than the players on the square. But it is not exactly certain that the MAVS fan base can now become silent.

And if this is the case, it can be more attributable to apathy than calling your team to consider support.

“It will probably take time for Luka to be completely out of the NBA because the NBA was my favorite sport,” Slovak said whether he can fully support the team. “And to have that of your favorite team, your favorite sport – you have to have these painful memories from the league before you can start rebuilding.”

As strong as the bond between a team and a fan can be, the bond between a fan and a favorite player can sometimes be even stronger. There is now a non-signifier number of MAVS fans who see Lakers games on the NBA League pass and pay more attention to how Dončić is doing than with their Mavericks, even if they strive to stick to a possible playing point.

“He belonged to us,” Tarrant told CNN. “We loved Luka and I would like to see how he wins a championship, but I hate that it will be purple and gold if he does.”

Alcala admitted that she even crossed a line that she never thought that she was facing her: a new Dons jersey from Dončić Lakers recently arrived for her son.

“I can’t believe that I bought it,” she said.