For a second consecutive weekend, Dallas sports fans were left dazed and confused, injected with a shot of headline caffeine just before bed time.
Ten days ago (Friday night, Jan. 24), the Dallas Cowboys announced that Brian Schottenheimer would be the team’s next head coach. At the time of the announcement, the news wasn’t shocking. Schottenheimer had interviewed multiple times earlier in the week with the Cowboys’ brass and things were trending in that direction. The reaction from Cowboys fans could probably best be characterized as exhaustion; exhausted by Jerry Jones’ approach to running the franchise, exhausted by the coaching search and exhausted by caring about winning at a level that doesn’t feel reciprocated by the organization.
This past Saturday was an entirely different story.
I understand that some Cowboys fans are only invested in the Cowboys but the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex is one of the handful of cities in the country that has NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams. Many people around this area are Dallas sports fans.
Many of you have a vested interest in the Dallas Mavericks, to varying extents. It’s not often that the Cowboys can be overtaken in the news cycle locally, especially just days after something significant like hiring a new coach. But Saturday night, just after 11 p.m., the Mavericks’ front office made a move that elicited a strong negative reaction. But this wasn’t exhaustion.
It was shock. Confusion. Rage.
Superstar guard Luka Dončiċ was shipped out of the city. The Mavericks traded their all-world player to the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that would have infuriated many folks regardless, but was compounded in fury because of how severely lacking the return feels like. The dialogue criticizing Jerry Jones’ work as Cowboys general manager faded and Mavericks GM Nico Harrison stood under the spotlight as the most reviled general manager in town.
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Jones isn’t off the hook — fan frustration will return sporadically throughout the offseason — but the Mavericks took everything on their plate for the time being.
For all of the warts that come with Jones’ work as GM, it’s hard to imagine him doing whatever the NFL equivalent is to trading away a top-three talent in the world in his prime, who the entire roster is constructed around, who never asked out and wants to be in Dallas, who holds one-name power and is beloved in the city. Jones may not go get that type of player externally but never does he take a homegrown player of that importance and proactively get rid of him. Tony Romo and Dak Prescott are prime examples, and neither was or is as talented at their craft as Dončiċ is at his.
Many babies have entered the world and received the name “Luka” from their Maverick fan parents. Countless dogs named “Luka” are running around Dallas today.
The real Luka, though, is now running around in Los Angeles.
Herschel Walker trade
The complete picture of the circumstances surrounding Dončiċ really do make this an unprecedented transaction.
But it is Dallas sports, and it is a big trade. Those qualifiers are synonymous with the Cowboys’ Herschel Walker trade to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989. That was a gargantuan move, both in components involved and the impact that followed.
First, let’s recap who got what in the Cowboys-Vikings deal:
Vikings receive:
• Herschel Walker
• Cowboys’ 1990 third-round draft pick
• Cowboys’ 1990 10th-round pick
• Cowboys’ 1991 third-round pick
• San Diego Chargers’ 1990 fifth-round pick.
Cowboys receive:
• LB Jesse Solomon, LB David Howard, CB Issiac Holt, DE Alex Stewart
• 1990: Vikings’ first, second and sixth-round picks
• 1991: Vikings’ first-round pick (conditional on cutting Solomon), second-round pick (conditional on cutting Howard)
• 1992: Vikings’ first-round pick (conditional on cutting Holt), Vikings’ second-round pick, Vikings’ third-round pick (conditional on cutting Stewart)
*Darrin Nelson was originally part of the deal to go to Dallas, but refused to report and was dealt to the Chargers.
Still, the ridiculousness of the Herschel Walker trade doesn’t compare to the absurdity of what the Mavericks did Saturday. Let’s look at some key differences:
• In 1989, Walker was a solid player coming off a good season in 1987 and a great season in 1988. Dončiċ is a top-three or top-five player in the world and is coming off five consecutive first-team All-NBA selections and the NBA’s scoring title in 2024.
• Although Walker had only been in the NFL for three seasons, he had previously played three years in the USFL. In two of his three USFL seasons, Walker carried the ball more than 400 times, so the 27-year-old running back was no spring chicken in 1989. Dončiċ is about to be 26, and although he has a lot of basketball mileage on his body, he’s still been durable and is just entering his prime.
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• In Walker’s three seasons in Dallas, the Cowboys never made the playoffs and never had a winning season. Dallas went 3-13 in Walker’s last full campaign there. With Dončiċ leading the way, the Mavericks made the playoffs in four of the past five years, reached the conference finals in two of the last three years and are coming off an NBA Finals appearance eight months ago.
• The Cowboys promoted a bidding war. When the Cleveland Browns were interested in making a generous offer, Jimmy Johnson didn’t just accept it. Instead, he shopped it around and got the most he could from the Vikings. The Mavericks didn’t shop Dončiċ’s services around the NBA. Harrison had a conversation with the Lakers’ brass and was clearly enamored with Anthony Davis, to the point that he didn’t shop Dončiċ to try and raise the price.
• The Walker trade served a mutually beneficial purpose when the deal was sold to the public. The Vikings had gotten to the conference championship and divisional round, respectively, in the two previous seasons, both times losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion. The Cowboys needed a roster overhaul and Johnson was able to orchestrate a deal that racked up a bunch of draft picks, which would later be used to select key contributors to the dynasty. With the Dončiċ trade, the Lakers found their next superstar to carry the franchise torch forward after LeBron James. The Mavericks are trying to sell that Anthony Davis is part of the goal to win in a shorter window. That will be determined in the weeks and months ahead. (For what it’s worth, the Vikings lost in the divisional round after Walker arrived before midseason in the trade and did not reach the playoffs in his final two seasons with the team.)
The Walker deal is one of the biggest transactions in sports history. Its impact is indisputable; it literally helped launch a dynasty. But the sheer shock value Saturday night when Dončiċ’s trade was announced was at a different level, both from the Walker trade, and perhaps just about any trade in sports history.
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Shock value
When trying to compare just how jarring the move was in respect to the Metroplex’s sports history, the Cowboys once again enter the conversation. The parameter has to exclude any loss of life, because that’s usually going to elicit the highest level of shock (for example, Kobe Bryant’s death on Jan. 26, 2020).
There are a number of mad, sad and confusing moments littered in Dallas sports history. For the Mavericks themselves, the exodus just a few years ago of longtime general manager Donnie Nelson and longtime head coach Rick Carlisle was a surprising moment. Game 6 of the 2011 World Series will always be a standard for a low-point in the Metroplex. Jones moving on from Johnson as head coach after winning back-to-back Super Bowls was enraging, even if the success just before and immediately after softened the blow in retrospect.
The one moment that compares to how Mavericks fans feel toward the team and the ownership/front office is probably when Jerry Jones bought the team and immediately fired Tom Landry. It was a different time without social media, but fandom approval was low and rage was very high. That’s something Harrison can relate to in the present.
(Top photos of Luka Dončiċ and Herschel Walker: Sam Hodde / Getty Images; Brian Bahr / Allsport)
