Mavericks owner throws salt into fans' wounds with laughable Luka Doncic take

The Dallas Mavericks' decision to trade Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a first-round pick is still the biggest story in sports over a month later, and the Lakers' dominance is a big reason for that.

Los Angeles has climbed to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference over the last month, and Doncic has been the talk of the town. All of the chatter surrounding the Lakers has been about how they are now true contenders and are set up beautifully for the present and the future, but the same can't be said about the Mavericks.

Dallas has been getting grilled for their decision to make this move, and ownership's comments have only made this worse. Patrick Dumont alluded to Doncic not being a hard worker, and the Mavericks have kicked him on his way out the door way too many times.

It got so bad to the point that Kyrie Irving said the public criticism of Doncic needed to be minimized, but once again, the Mavericks made things worse for themselves again due to some comments from Dumont.

Dumont's vision for the Mavericks' future misses the mark

On February 13, Dumont spoke at the Bank of Texas Speaker Series, and a clip from his speech went viral on Thursday. Fans already thought that Dumont was out of touch for signing off on Nico Harrison's decision to trade Doncic, and some of his quotes from this event proved their point even more.

Dumont thought that the Mavericks got worse when comparing the 2023-24 team to the 2024-25 team, which was obviously not true when observing their roster construction and how the team played when they were healthy. This year's roster (before the trade deadline) was the deepest team of the Doncic era, and the starting lineup of Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, and Dereck Lively II was dominant, but didn't get to play much together. They went 6-1 in the seven games that they started, and it looked like the sky was the limit for them.

Doncic and Lively II's chemistry was steadily rising, as they looked like they were two future building blocks for Dallas who were ready to produce now, and into the future. Despite Doncic having the best year of his career last season, Dumont traded him for Davis for a better future in his eyes.

"This was a decision about the future," Dumont said. "The objective was how do we create a roster for the future that allows us to be the most competitive team...We want to win championships, we want to be a winning franchise for the city of Dallas."

If Dumont truly wanted to set up the Mavericks for the future, he would have rolled with the roster they had with Doncic at the helm. He was only 25 years old when they traded him, and all signs are pointing to him becoming an all-time great player. The Mavericks were in the perfect spot to make him a Maverick for life, as he was prepared to sign a supermax extension this summer, but they didn't even want to give him that.

Dallas was looking to trade Doncic before this summer, as they had no interest in giving him a supermax contract even though he would have quickly signed it. This is another awful bet on the Mavs' long-term future, as Doncic has not even reached his prime yet while Davis is in the middle of his. Dumont believes that Dallas got better by trading Doncic for Davis, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

Dumont and Harrison's view on the Mavericks' future is incredibly flawed, and Dumont's recently exposed comments show that even more. Fans have already gone through enough when it comes to the sadness that came along with the trade, and these types of comments are what keeps people talking about the Mavericks in a negative light.