Luka Doncic Trade Leaves Former Dallas Mayor Furious With Patrick Dumont in Open Letter

According to former Dallas mayor Thomas Leppert, Patrick Dumont trading Luka Doncic had ulterior motives and far-reaching consequences.

Thomas Leppert, Patrick Dumont (Image via Firstsportz)

It is no exaggeration to call the Luka Doncic trade the most shocking basketball transaction of all time. When Patrick Dumont and Nico Harrison stepped up to speak to the public in the aftermath, they were met with stone-cold hands. Their miscalculation has been apparent in the months that have passed by. Even a casual sports fan like former Dallas mayor Thomas Leppert feels aggrieved by the circumstances.

Leppert was the mayor of the Dallas metropolitan area from 2007 to 2011. He saw the city celebrate Dirk Nowitzki over the years, and was in office a month before Nowitzki sealed the city’s only NBA title. Leppert understood that Nowitzki was a major tourist attraction for the Texas megacity. He has now been left nonplussed and displeased by how callously the current Dallas Mavericks ownership treated Doncic.

The former mayor penned a long, open letter to the city’s residents in a recent Dallas Morning News column. Leppert wrote at length about how the Doncic trade was a betrayal of the city in certain ways. Leppert also laid out how the Mavericks ownership group led by Miriam Adelson is being viewed by the general public in its wake.

What I’ve seen since Patrick Dumont and the Adelson family took over the Mavs suggests a lack of interest in the basketball operations and this community. From where I sit, the priority is clear: use this asset to further the family’s casino business, Dumont approved a trade that it’s hard to believe any local owner would have accepted; it gutted the team’s identity and shattered a deep bond with its fans. It was apathy or a lack of understanding about Luka and the Dallas fan base that gave Harrison the authority to carry out his trade plan — regardless of the damage done.
Former Dallas mayor Thomas Leppert harangued in the wake of Patrick Dumont trading Luka Doncic

What Leppert wrote was just a distillation of many Dallas Mavericks faithful’s feelings. When former majority owner Mark Cuban sold his team to the Adelsons, there was a sense of foreboding among fans. It has come true in perhaps the most disheartening way for the fanbase. There isn’t much left unsaid about what Doncic meant for the franchise. But that isn’t all – he was also a tourist attraction of sorts who buoyed the Dallas economy. The city will be worse for sending its most recent basketball star elsewhere.

Can the Dallas Mavericks conceivably win the Luka Doncic trade?

Neither the Lakers nor the Mavericks have had anything to show for since the monumental trade. The Lakers had a hot run of results and cemented the third seed in the Conference, but only won one playoff game. The Mavericks, meanwhile, have dealt with injuries to Anthony Davis as well as Kyrie Irving. They won a play-in game, but lost the 8v9 matchup and missed the postseason altogether.

If Kyrie Irving is able to return mid-season next year, the Mavericks can conceivably plan for another playoff run. However, the Western Conference is crowded, and they will face a ton of young, athletic and energetic teams. Despite Irving and Davis’ championship experience, the team will need to reallocate its assets and consolidate the talents around their foundational core.

The Lakers, meanwhile, have the opportunity to ride on Luka Doncic and his status as the NBA’s most marketable star for over a decade. Doncic is addicted to basketball and being excellent at it, and he can be the catalyst for a new championship era in Los Angeles. Whether or not he wins a championship there, there’s a sense of finality to the Lakers winning the trade.

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#About the Author

Amulya Shekhar

(144 Articles Published)

Amulya Shekhar holds a degree in Applied Geology from IIT Kharagpur. He built a following by authoring Quora answers from 2013-14 and eventually started freelancing as a football writer with Sportskeeda. He grew his expertise to later on cover basketball, a sport he had played alongside football since childhood. Within a year of working with the organization, Shekhar held an interview with Basketball Hall of Famer Tim Hardaway Sr. Shekhar has had stints as a content manager and editor with TheSportsRush, later on rejoining Sportskeeda as a strategist for major American league sports. He has built connections with accredited NBA and NFL media personnel and sourced questions for interviews with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown. Shekhar holds expertise in conducting interviews in video as well as text mediums. Currently working as a Director of Content Strategy at Firstsportz with an emphasis on American Sports, he wishes to gain credentials as a major league reporter. Shekhar has authored over 5000 articles, edited and strategized over 100,000 pieces and gained over 70 million reads across platforms through 11 years of sports writing. He has also been responsible for generating monthly traffic flows of up to 35 million unique site visits.

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