Recently, the Dallas Mavericks made headlines by firing general manager Nico Harrison, nine months after he traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a widely panned move. In the wake of this decision, many were wondering if the Mavericks' new regime might trade some veteran talent and embrace a full rebuild around Cooper Flagg.
When the Doncic trade first went down, many fans floated a conspiracy theory that the move was actually a ploy by the ownership group, led by Patrick Dumont, to ultimately get the franchise out of Dallas and to Las Vegas.
Some fuel was added to that fire with a recent statement from attorney Joshua M. Sandler, who is currently representing the WNBA's Dallas Stars in their legal fight against the Mavericks over upgrades to the American Airlines Center.
“In 2024, according to filings with the Texas Secretary of State, the new owners of the Mavericks designated the location for the team's principal corporate and executive offices as Las Vegas, Nevada, which is 1,200 miles away and located outside the State of Texas,” he said in a statement, per S.E. Jenkins, Julia Falcon, and Doug Myers of CBS News. “In other words, the Mavericks engaged in the very conduct they allege entitles them to take full control of the American Airlines Center.”
The Dumont family does indeed have business ties to Las Vegas, which began the rumors in the first place in the wake of the Doncic trade.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks' ownership team is engaged in the legal battle against the Stars' ownership over allegations that the Stars' group has resisted renovations to the American Airlines Center, in breach of a previous agreement.
Whatever ends up coming of this legal battle, NBA conspiracy theorists certainly got a new topic to discuss with this latest development about the Mavericks' ownership.
