Ever since the stunning Luka Dončić-for-Anthony Davis blockbuster swap, the Mavericks have dug themselves into an even deeper hole at seemingly every turn. There have been “Fire Nico” chants (Nico being Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison) not only at Mavericks games but at Dallas-area sporting events as a whole, and Dallas forward P.J. Washington even confronted one fan who participated.
It certainly doesn’t help that Harrison’s explanation for the trade wasn’t the most convincing, with him even admitting it might not work out. The details behind the trade, from Harrison not discussing it with Dončić to Mark Cuban saying the team didn’t understand his background, have been unflattering at best. Making matters worse, Kyrie Irving tore his ACL shortly after the trade, and Davis and many others Mavericks have had significant injuries, too.
Long story short, the trade has widely been panned as one of the worst trades — if not the worst trade — in sports history.
Where to watch Lakers vs. Mavericks: TV channel, live stream, odds as Luka Dončić returns to Dallas
Jasmyn Wimbish
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd inadvertently only added fuel to that ugly fire Wednesday ahead of Dončić’s first game in Dallas as a member of the Lakers, saying it’s “kinda cool” that the trade has been compared to the infamous trade where the Red Sox sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.
“This is a business. It happens, right? Trades happen. This won’t be the last trade,” Kidd said. “Some have compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kinda cool. When you look at the business of sports, change happens.”
As a quick history lesson, Boston sold the rights to a disgruntled Ruth to New York for $100,000, which, to be fair, was a lot of money back then. Ruth, already a three-time World Series champion with Boston, was coming off a season where he led MLB in home runs (29) and WAR and wasn’t even in his prime yet at just 24 years old.
From 1920-1934 with the Yankees, Ruth became one of the greatest players of all-time, leading MLB in home runs nine times and winning four World Series. The original Yankee Stadium became known as “The House That Ruth Built” as a result, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Yankees kept on racking up World Series titles, while the Red Sox, who won it all in 1918 with Ruth, wouldn’t win another title until 2004, a drought that became known as the “Curse of the Bambino.”
Only time will tell if Dončić leads the next great era of Lakers basketball as Dallas falls into a title drought, but there’s no question Kidd was off base thinking this was a “cool” coincidence.
