Like many, Bill Simmons has spent the past few days trying to make sense of the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers.
And absent of any logical explanation, the Sports Guy is turning to one of his favorite pastimes: conspiracy theories.
On Monday’s episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons broke down the deal with The Ringer’s Kirk Goldsberry — the ex-ESPN columnist’s second podcast in as many days dedicated to the trade. And when prompted by Goldsberry to share his favorite conspiracy theory to help justify the shocking move, The Ringer founder amplified the idea that it could be a precursor to the Mavericks moving from Dallas to Las Vegas.
“I love this one: that the [NBA] owners have always wanted the Vegas team and their eventual goal is to basically flip franchises, move Dallas to Vegas so they can have their whole casino thing,” Simmons said. “The expansion team that was gonna go in Vegas would be the Dallas team. They’d pay whatever. And the first way to do this would be basically to torpedo the Mavericks franchise’s relationship with their fans by trading Luka Dončić. And it’s like, I have no notes. That’s one of the best conspiracy theories I’ve ever heard.”
Goldsberry — who lives in Austin — proceeded to pour some gas on the fire, calling attention to the reality that Texas has yet to legalize gambling. That could ultimately prove problematic for the Mavericks’ owners, the Adelson family, which made the bulk of its fortune via Las Vegas casinos and seemingly purchased the team under the notion that they’d be able to expand their empire to the Lone Star State.
“One more layer to that one is like gambling in Texas may or may not happen, right?” Goldsberry said.
“Probably not happening,” Simmons added.
“For those who don’t know, this family made its money in Vegas,” Goldsberry continued. “Like they’re a casino family. So that’s a good one.”
While such a conspiracy theory being a reality is obviously far fetched, to Simmons and Goldsberry’s points, there’s seemingly always been something about Mark Cuban’s decision to sell the Mavericks in 2023 that’s never quite added up. Granted, there’s a big gap between making sense of the sale and it being a part of a larger conspiracy involving the league forcing fans to turn against the franchise. But the fact that such a theory would even be floated on one of the biggest podcasts in the world just goes to show how truly shocking the Dončić trade was.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.