On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks won their first home game without Luka Doncic or Dirk Nowitzki in 9,800 days. So, understandably, it’s going to take their fans a while to move past the trade that sent Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a package headlined by Anthony Davis and a first-round pick. If anybody knows that, it’s Mavericks owner/governor Patrick Dumont, who has made his first public comments since the historic transaction.
Mavs Owner Patrick Dumont’s Breaks Down Luka Doncic Trade
“It’s hard to make tough decisions,” Dumont tells Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. “And it’s hard to make the right decisions when they’re tough. And it’s easy to do nothing.
“But when you want to pursue excellence in an organization, you have to make the tough decisions and stand by them and keep going.”
With that statement, Dupont set up a quote that’s since gone viral.
“If you look at the greats in the league, the people you and I grew up with — (Michael) Jordan, (Larry) Bird, Kobe (Bryant), Shaq(uille O’Neal) — they worked really hard, everyday with a singular focus to win. And if you don’t have that, it doesn’t work… You shouldn’t be apart of the Dallas Mavericks.”
The follow-up to his analogy helps to add color between the lines. Dumont is running the Mavericks the same way that he generally operates. Given that the John Hopkins and Columbia alum rose to the rank of Chief Financial Officer after less than six years with Las Vegas Sands, he might know a bit about work ethic.
“That’s who we want,” the now Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands says. “I’m unwavering on this. The entire organization knows this. This is how I operate outside of basketball. This is the only way to be competitive and win. If you want to take a vacation, don’t do it with us.”
“Look, I think there’s a lot of things that come into play when you decide the roster of the team,” he adds. “And culture is very important. That’s what we’re focused on.”
Character, Culture, Camaraderie
As Dumont breaks his silence, one is reminded of Mavs star guard Kyrie Irving comments shortly after the trade deadline. His defense of his team as a “great group” was to be expected; players don’t usually dog out their teammates. What came as a surprise was his brief mention of Harrison and Mavs head coach Jason Kidd.
“You have J Kidd and Nico doing their things behind the scenes and making sure we’re a good group personality-wise,” he told reporters.
Kyrie Irving says the Mavericks have a “great group” to contend: “You have J Kidd [and] Nico doing their things behind the scenes and making sure we’re a good group personality-wise—it makes my job a lot easier to just go out and lead this group and believe in my guys.” pic.twitter.com/C9osIsQw2d
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) February 8, 2025
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For those that remember and those who don’t, there were reports that Mavs players didn’t enjoy playing with Doncic as much as one might think.
“One veteran assistant coach, underscoring the ball-dominance issue, said you can almost sense a ‘sigh of relief’ among Doncic’s teammates when he checks out of a game,” per The Ringer’s Howard Beck, “‘because it opens up a little more freedom’ for others to make plays. “It’s a sense of, ‘Hey, now we get to play,’” the coach said. “It’s difficult to have any rhythm if you’re not touching the ball.” And when Doncic is off the floor, it’s a chance for those teammates to show ‘we don’t have to depend on him.’”
This may not have been a major factor in Doncic being traded. Nevertheless, it provides insight into a partnership that wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Ultimately, the 25-year-old is presented as a prodigious talent with too much of a hero complex. Add to that the concerns about his discipline and physical fitness, both markers of maturity.
Maybe trading Doncic was inevitable. For all of his accomplishments, there were reasons to hesitate about being unconditionally committed to him.
“In my mind the way teams win is by focus, by having the right character, by having the right culture, and having the right dedication to work as hard as possible to create a championship-winning outcome,” Dumont muses. “And if you’re not doing that, you’re going to lose.”
Love/Loyalty Versus Trust
Though Dumont doubled-down on the trade decision, it’s not like he didn’t love or appreciate Doncic. In fact, he characterizes him as a Mav “for life.” One might say that he just happens to trust Harrison, the architect of the roster that went to the 2024 NBA Finals, more than his former franchise point guard.
“I’ve said it all along: In Nico we trust,” Dumont says. “You have to respect the track record… his intellect… his relationships and his judgment and his point of view and the way he communicates.
“I respect that. Our whole family respects it.”
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