The Luka Doncic Trade

I thought this theory good enough to post about, and it aligns with my speculation that a side deal was done between the owners of the Lakers and Mavericks.

This particular theory is that the new majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks wants to relocate the team to Las Vegas, where the owners live and have their casinos. The team would become the Las Vegas Mavericks. To achieve this goal, they need to destroy the team in Dallas first, thus justifying the move. 

LeBron James has stated that he wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas, so he's been sent Doncic to get more titles with, then he comes in as part of the ownership group of the Mavs in Las Vegas. 

It sounds a bit farfetched for my liking, but looking at the facial expressions of the Mavs coach, Jason Kidd at the announcement of the trade, we can assume people were told a pack of lies and that something went on behind the scenes. Personally, I prefer as a piece of speculation, that some kind of stadium deal was done between Adelson and Buss.

Another spin on this is that Las Vegas is being used as a bargaining chip to try and get gambling through the Texas legislature. This could have some legs, but I wouldn't think casinos would be welcomed in Texas, so this looks as if the Mavericks are off to Las Vegas if this is the strategy being used:

Did the Dallas Mavericks Tank?

This will develop as time goes by. In the NBA the Dallas Mavericks appear to have intentionally lost a game with only two games left in their regular season schedule and with a chance remaining to make the playoffs.

What do you think, did they tank?

In their penultimate game, they lost to the Chicago Bulls. They sat down five important players, including Kyrie Irving. These five were not even on the scoresheet. Then during the game they only gave 13 minutes to another star, Luka Doncic, and did not play Jaden Hardy in the second half, even though he was hot in the first. What's going on? The NBA is investigating:

https://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/nba/nba-opens-investigation-into-mavs-as-tanking-allegations-run-rampant/news-story/e9e98bf094f6ea56084c45e9ecefb666

[Update @ 14/04/2023 - the NBA have fined the Mavericks $750k, for undermining the integrity of the sport. Personally, I think this is a slap on the wrist. They should be required to trade away their key star Luka Doncic IMO]