𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗘𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗬 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧'𝗦 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗟𝗨𝗞𝗔 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗖 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗦

                             

Luka Doncic, Lebron James

All eyes of the basketball world will be fixated on tonight's NBA game at Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks.

Just three weeks ago, the Dallas Mavericks inexplicably traded away a 25 year old generational superstar who'd already been named All-NBA five times, to the Lakers, prompting huge protests in Dallas among fans who gathered to call out management and ownership of the team.

Most think this trade would never have happened had Mark Cuban not sold majority interest, 72.3%, of the Mavericks to right-winger Miriam Adelson, the matriarch of the Sands Corporation, a world wide gambling outfit. Adelson was Donald Trump's third highest donator in the 2024 campaign, contributing $108M to the Trump campaign.  (Elon Musk was Trump's highest donor, adding $275M to Trump's campaign coffers in a bought-and-paid-for election)

              

Miriam Adelson receiving the Medal of Freedom for her financial support of Trump

Trump responded to Adelson's generosity by awarding her the Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony. 

Oh, by the way, the Adelson family are not exactly basketball fans, but bought the Mavs with the intention of creating a huge gambling complex in Dallas, including a new arena, casino and retail.

If you've seen advertisements from the Texas Destination Resort Alliance "supporting our schools," trying to keep Texas money in Texas," those are paid for by the Sands Corporation headed by Miriam Adelson as part of her effort to bring gambling to Texas.

                                   

Miriam Adelson's son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, holding the Mavs Western Conference Championship trophy from last year

                                                          

Adelson named her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, the round-faced, split teeth gentleman pictured above holding the Mavs Western Conference trophy from last year, Governor of the Dallas Mavericks.  Upon learning that Luka Doncic, the teams young superstar, had qualified for a Supermax this summer, that is a five year contract worth $545M, Dumont, along with team General Manager Nico Harrison, promptly traded Doncic to the Lakers.

                         

The Lakers had abolutely no hesitation trading for the 25 year old basketball savant and, as the young man entered the arena, he was greeted by the Lakers players, a #77 Doncic jersey on each seat and Slovenian music soaring up into the rafters.  

Doncic will still be eligible for a contract of $429M or so which the Lakers will gladly offer, cutting Doncic's losses to a mere $116M.

Doncic, who'd not played since a December 25th calf injury, started slowly with the Lakers, averaging just 14.7 points his first two games with the Lakers in limited minutes.  His third game, against the Denver Nuggets, was more Luka-like with 32 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and a block.

After the game, teammate Lebron James, a 40 year old force of nature, was grinning ear to ear, offering a football analogy:  "Luka has been a great quarterback for many years, while I've been a great wide receiver.  It's a perfect fit."

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The Adelson family has not handled the post-trade protest very well.   Several season ticket holders were escorted out of a recent game for holding signs asking for the firing of the teams general manager.  Now, the Adelson family has made clear that any fan showing up wearing a Luka jersey will be given three options: take off the jersey, cover it with another shirt or leave the arena. (Doesn't sound like the country I grew up in, but this is the Trump era.)