By now, everyone has been briefed on the seismic NBA Trade that sent Luka Doncic to the L.A. Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis. (And some spare parts.)
You could argue whether Dallas or Los Angeles won the trade, for both the short term and the long term, that's the fun of sports.
But the loser of the trade was clearly Mavericks' General Manager Nico Harrison.
Many competing General Managers questioned if Harrison got enough for Doncic. (He didn't.)
Many competing General Managers said it would have been a good trade, if Davis was the same age as Doncic. (Davis is in his 30's.)
Our angle, though, is that Nico Harrison overestimated Kyrie Irving. Nico Harrison bet the farm that Kyrie is now the new Alpha Dog in Dallas. That is a poor, poor bet.
Kyrie has had injury problems since his freshman year at Duke. Irving has NEVER played an 82-game season in the NBA. He has missed, at least, 10 games a year, every year, since the 2014 season. Irving came into this year averaging just 44 games a season over the past 5 years.
That's the guy that's going to lead you to the NBA Championship? And I haven't even mentioned Irving's off-the-court controversies. The Daily Mail calls Kyrie Irving the most polarizing athlete in sports.
So let me get this straight. Nico Harrison thinks the oft-injured, 32-year-old Kyrie Irving, the oft-injured 31-year-old Anthony Davis (who has averaged 50 games a year over the past 5 years), and the oft-injured 34-year-old Klay Thompson (who missed 2.5 years straight due to injury in 2020) is going to win him a championship?
If I was in Vegas, I would say a smarter bet would be that all three players would be INJURED when the Mavericks crash out of the playoffs in the first round in a few months.
On paper, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Klay Thompson would sail to an NBA Championship... in 2018!
But you know what? You could argue that Nico Harrison doesn't have to impress me, I'm just a schlub at Beacon of Speech. It doesn't matter if the fans are furious with Harrison, the only person that matters is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban.
Uh....you say that Mark Cuban sold the Mavs? Well then who's the owner?
Miriam Adelson.
Who's that? Miriam is the widow of Sheldon Adelson.
Okay, I still got nothing.
Miriam Adelson is a billionaire philanthropist who received a Congressional Medal of Honor for her work with Jewish Charities. "Adelson has stated the "top issue in the Jewish community is the survival of the Jewish people." Rabbi Shmuley Boteach described her as "arguably the proudest Jew I have met." A strong supporter of Israel, she has said that her heart is in that country and that she got "stuck" in America after meeting her husband."
It is particularly tone deaf for Harrison to trade Doncic, a proud Slovenian, and elevating Irving, a known antisemite, as the face of the franchise. How do you think the owner of the Mavericks feels about that?
Kyrie Irving has accused Jews of Genocide in Gaza as late as November of 2023.
Even if the Mavs win the NBA Finals this year. (They won't)
Even if Luka doesn't sign an extension with the Lakers. (He will.)
Miriam Adelson is not going to put up with Irving showing up in a keffiyeh at Dallas Press Conferences. The Chronically Unhappy Kyrie Irving is not a safe bet to be the poster boy of your franchise.
If you know what a keffiyeh is, you know that Harrison will be fired from the Mavericks, maybe as soon as the end of this year. And Harrison will be out of the NBA entirely within 5 years.
There's a reason Nico Harrison kept the trade a secret from nearly everyone before he pulled the trigger. NBA General Managers have been fired for far, far less.