Today marks the tail end of the five stages of sports grief:
Denial: When the trade was announced on Saturday night, we thought ESPN insider Shams Charania must have been hacked. Surely this news couldn’t be true. The Mavericks would never trade Luka, right?
Anger: The Mavericks would absolutely trade Luka, and it’s all Nico Harrison’s fault.
Bargaining: Half-jokingly, some fans pleaded to Adam Silver to veto the trade. Perhaps President Trump could sneak in an executive order that bans professional sports teams from inexplicably dumping their franchise cornerstone for 50 cents on the dollar. We received texts from friends that the trade was actually all part of a master plan to get Davis and have Doncic re-sign over the offseason. We didn’t have the heart to tell them it was impossible, the five stages of sports grief were going according to plan.
Depression: Yesterday, two fans in black suits laid a casket to rest before the Dirk Nowitzki statue in front of American Airlines Center. Many people shed legitimate tears. Anecdotally, we heard people say that it would’ve actually been better if Doncic had died because at least then they wouldn’t feel partially responsible as a Dallasite for having stabbed him in the back. That feels sort of overboard to us, though.
Acceptance: Anthony Davis is still an amazing basketball player. On paper, the Mavericks roster as constructed still leaves room for optimism, at least in the short term.
Grief isn't linear, but perhaps enough time has passed to look back at some of the social media’s funniest, saddest and weirdest knee-jerk reactions to the news. In short: the Mavericks got roasted online.
Unless you count violence manifested in the form of deep three-pointers and baseline fadeaways, Doncic's slate is clean.Legitimately, unless Luka Doncic is a serial killer, I don’t understand how this happens.
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) February 2, 2025
this might be the craziest day of my life and I done been SHOT before https://t.co/1L3bQt07jf
— . (@448Gotti) February 2, 2025
Bad decisions have been made in sports, but we've never seen a trade so bad that Duolingo got involved.👀 @dallasmavs https://t.co/Y3yt3TFpfy pic.twitter.com/HNLCS8Im4J
— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 3, 2025
Dark, but bonus points for an extremely creative joke.our nation has a Kennedy missing his brain and now a white man from Dallas is about to help LBJ win. welcome back, 1963
— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) February 2, 2025
Premonition in the worst possible way.ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME https://t.co/HBgQSye7R8
— Subscribe to the You Know Ball Patreon (@TrillBroDude) February 2, 2025
But really did https://t.co/WNyby3FhQy pic.twitter.com/tOYVbfXB8r
— nick xlnc nukem (@NukemNick) February 2, 2025
In the most purely American fashion, several brands have launched protest merch over the Doncic trade, including one Instagram account called @bringlukahome. T-shirts are marked with phrases like "Former Mavs Fan" or "Free Luka" or a "Dallas's Most Wanted" poster with photos of Nico Harrison.
IG account @instnt.classics is taking the bait too. Just $18 can get you a black t-shirt with blue letters spelling out "I WITNESSED THE WORST TRADE IN NBA HISTORY."
Aren't sports fun? Aren't American sports fun? Maybe not as much when you're on the receiving end of such a terrible decision, but at the very least last weekend will be remembered as an iconic moment in the city's cultural history.
