00:00As something that a lot of people thought should have happened a year ago has now finally happened.
00:05It was like the other shoe had to drop at some point.
00:07Well, that shoe, that big-ass Timberland has dropped right on Nico Harrison's face.
00:13Nico Harrison, the general manager, I should say now, former general manager of the Dallas Mavericks,
00:18is walking into a room right now, Joe Pesci, Goodfellas style,
00:22and he's getting whacked by NBA insiders breaking the story about 25 minutes ago.
00:28Nico Harrison, who a lot of you still think incorrectly,
00:31the author of the Luka Doncic trade to the LA Lakers, is out as general manager of the Dallas Mavericks.
00:39Now, they did get Cooper Flagg, obviously, first overall pick in the draft.
00:43He has been a disappointment based on what the expectation was for him to come in and just dominate the NBA.
00:49Cooper Flagg right now is averaging 15 points a game and six rebounds,
00:53which is okay for a rookie, for sure, especially an 18-year-old rookie,
00:58but not anywhere near what the expectation was, him being a dominant player,
01:02and he's got plenty of time to grow.
01:03But here's what's funny about it.
01:05There's been this storyline that I've mocked and laughed at since they pulled off the Luka Doncic trade,
01:13how Nico Harrison suddenly went from a very competent, well-thought-of general manager,
01:19overseeing the Dallas Mavericks run, to a couple of Western Conference finals,
01:23and one NBA final, of course, which they lost, but they got there, right?
01:27Yeah.
01:28And he was regarded as kind of the architect of those teams, rightfully so.
01:32So, he's not the guy that traded Luka Doncic.
01:36He's not the guy that is responsible for the current mess that we have in Dallas.
01:44He's the fall guy.
01:45He's the guy that we prop up to blame because the real author of that trade
01:52doesn't want to take the responsibility for signing off and suggesting that they trade Luka Doncic.
01:59So, let me walk you through this very quickly because the misinformation is astounding to me.
02:04Yes, Nico Harrison was the general manager.
02:07Yes, Nico Harrison, as general manager, had to take blame or credit,
02:12depending on how you wanted to view that trade at the time it happened.
02:14We all say blame because you traded one of the generationally great scorers in the history of basketball
02:19for a guy that's never on the court are healthy in Anthony Davis, obviously,
02:24but that's neither here nor there.
02:25The guy that orchestrated the trade is a guy named Patrick Dumont.
02:31All right, who is Patrick Dumont?
02:33Patrick Dumont was a mechanical engineer, very smart guy, went to Ivy League schools,
02:40worked for Bear Stearns, was an investment guru type of guy,
02:44and then he magically fell in love one day.
02:49Who did he fall in love with?
02:51He fell in love with a guy named Siobhan, who happened to be the daughter of one of the wealthiest casino magnates
02:58in the country, the Adelson family, all right?
03:02So, Patrick Dumont marries in to the Adelson family.
03:06They own the Sands Casino and Hotel.
03:08There's one in Atlantic City.
03:10There's a big one, obviously, in Las Vegas.
03:12They're worth about $30-plus billion, okay?
03:15Old man Adelson passes away.
03:18His wife, Miriam Adelson, is now the czar of the Adelson fortune.
03:23Well, she's looking at the bottom line of how to make more money as a casino magnate.
03:28I'm just walking you through the history of this, okay?
03:30And she recognizes that Texas, one day, is going to approve casinos.
03:37Currently, there are no casinos in the state of Texas.
03:40She wants to make sure that she's got her foot in the door so that when Texas and Governor Abbott,
03:46or a future governor, finally approves brick-and-mortar casinos in the state of Texas, she wants in.
03:53Well, how do you get in?
03:54I need a building.
03:56I need an arena.
03:57I need land.
03:59So, she makes an offer for her and buys the Dallas Mavericks for a few billion dollars, okay?
04:04She appoints her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, as the governor of the Dallas Mavericks, overseeing all basketball operations.
04:13Now, Tyrone, does he have a basketball background?
04:16No, of course not.
04:17Has he ever worked in the NBA?
04:18No, he hasn't.
04:19Did he work for the Dallas Mavericks?
04:20He did not.
04:21Was he a G League guy?
04:22No.
04:23Was he a high school basketball coach?
04:24No.
04:25Did he coach in the AAU?
04:26He did not.
04:27Was he a college basketball coach?
04:28No.
04:29Did he have any experience at all running a basketball team?
04:32None whatsoever.
04:33But he did have experience in finance, and Luka Doncic was up for a five-year, $345 million extension.
04:44That was the max extension, which would have worked out to be 10% of the entire value of the Dallas Mavericks franchise when the Adelsons bought it, okay?
04:56And he told everyone that wanted to listen that Luka Doncic is lazy, he's got no work ethic, the reason he has all these little nagging injuries is because he's overweight and out of shape.
05:07And I'm not paying a guy $345 million if that guy has no professional pride and gets his ass in shape and plays.
05:17We can argue that day and night.
05:18That's the history of this.
05:20So he goes to Nico Harrison and says, I'm not giving him the extension, so it's a small window where we can trade him, and in theory, get some level of value back, and the best they do is the trade they made.
05:33Nico Harrison has to be the front man.
05:36Nico Harrison has to take all the slings and arrows based on the decision that the owner made.
05:42Nico Harrison has to take all the slings and arrows based on the decision that the owner made.
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