When the news broke on social media late Saturday night that the Dallas Mavericks traded transcendent superstar forward Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, I spent several minutes groggily staring at my phone, mouth agape, trying to figure out if I was duped by an NBA parody news account. 

This transaction blindsided fans, sportswriters and apparently even the Mavericks’ own head coach. What possibly could have motivated Mavs’ owner Miriam Adelson and her general manager to give up Doncic in exchange for a lesser star, center Anthony Davis?

Allow me to don my tinfoil hat for a moment.   

There's a plausible argument to be made that the trade had less to do with basketball, which Adelson doesn’t seem to have strong emotional investment in, and everything to do with where her biggest business investments are: gambling. 

Adelson’s late husband Sheldon Adelson built the Las Vegas Sands gambling empire, which she now controls. 

If Adelson had her way, every Texan over 21 would be able to bet good money — at casinos she owns — that the Lakers will finish higher than her team in the standings. 

After everyone realized the Mavericks actually were dumb enough to trade a top 3 player and perennial MVP candidate for the oft-injured Davis, the betting markets responded accordingly. One year removed from losing in the NBA finals to the Boston Celtics, the Mavericks’ championship odds suddenly plummeted over the weekend. The Lakers, on the other hand, who can now pair Doncic alongside another superstar forward in the ageless LeBron James, are a hot ticket.

Adelson, however, has not been able to get Texans a piece of the betting action, even after giving millions in political contributions to pro-gambling Texas lawmakers. On Tuesday, though, just days after the Luka Doncic trade, the Chronicle’s Jeremy Wallace reported that Abbott had come out in support of legalizing online sports betting. That's a step further than his previous statements that he’d be willing to listen to proposals to expand casino gambling.

The timing set off my antennae. Were the two linked? Arm-chair general managers at home were already promoting such theories on social media, but being a serious journalist and all, I wanted evidence. 

The trade simply made no sense on the court. Even if you buy Mavs GM Nico Harrison’s rationale that Davis is a far superior defender to the offense-minded Doncic, it’s a preposterous deal, primarily because it shrinks the Mavs’ championship window. Davis and his new Dallas running mate Kyrie Irving, are on the wrong side of 30, over the hill in basketball years. At 25, Doncic is squarely in his athletic prime, with many more years of scoring and play-making wizardry left. If you were building a title contender from scratch, Doncic is one of maybe three or four other players in the NBA you’d want to start with.

So what other motivation could there possibly be to trade Doncic? 

Well, the Occam’s razor for this ridiculous decision could be that Doncic was soon eligible for a massive five-year contract extension worth $345 million. As amazing as Doncic is, he’s had issues staying in peak physical shape, and he’s been plagued by nagging minor injuries the past couple of years as a result. That’s a lot of dough for a doughy player. So maybe the Mavs wanted out. That doesn’t completely explain the relatively paltry return they got for Doncic in the trade, but it’s some justification, if cutthroat, for making the move.

Still, as a devotee of star-crossed, mostly incompetent teams (in my case, the unholy trifecta of the New York Mets, Jets and Knicks) I admire any fan’s ability to channel sports rage into a full-blown political conspiracy. 

In a viral Facebook post, Christopher Kratovil, a Dallas-based appellate lawyer and lifelong Mavs fan, posited that this is all part of a high-stakes game of chicken between Adelson and the Texas Legislature.

The Mavs’ previous owner Mark Cuban sold his controlling stake to Adelson in 2023 with the intention of bringing some serious political muscle behind a push to legalize casinos and sports betting in Texas, allowing the team to build a new resort casino and arena in Dallas. 

Yet Adelson’s lobbying efforts in Texas thus far haven’t budged lawmakers, particularly in the state Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a gambling opponent, controls the agenda. 

Kratovil believes that booting Doncic is Adelson's way of playing hardball. The trade has already turned off thousands of fans. If the team struggles, and ticket and merchandise sales also tank, it will make it easier for Adelson to, in Kratovil’s words, tell state lawmakers: “Authorize our Mavs-centered casino or we’re off to Vegas baby." The NBA has long been rumored to have plans to expand there. A team that owners stop investing in and fans stop caring about is all the easier to move. For Dallas, and its lawmakers, that would be an economic and emotional blow.  

The notion that the Mavericks could one day threaten to bolt Dallas if legal gaming doesn’t come to fruition isn’t so farfetched. We’ve seen plenty of owners of professional sports teams try to hold cities hostage for new arenas or stadiums, then take their ball and leave when they don’t get their way. Houston Oilers fans know a thing or two about that.

Miriam Adelson’s husband was a political animal, going to great lengths to expand his gaming empire, mostly by shoveling gobs of money at whomever he could influence. He spent $82 million on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, then proceeded to help shape his Middle East policy, including pushing the U.S. to move its embassy to Jerusalem and renege on the Iran nuclear deal. Adelson even got Trump to try and talk the Japanese prime minister into granting him a license for a $10 billion casino.

It’s certainly possible that Miriam Adelson gleaned a thing or two from her late husband on how to leverage political power — or perhaps she was the genius scheming behind the scenes all along. They both gave big money to Abbott, and Adelson likely expects a return on that investment at some point. Abbott, for his part, has certainly shown he can be bought. 

The Adelsons have no civic ties to Dallas and may sense an opportunity in Sin City if they can’t get the Legislature to budge on expanding casinos and legalizing sports betting here. Mavericks fans better hope Abbott wins a Legislative standoff with Patrick if it comes down to that. 

Abbott's office did not respond to my request for comment. A spokesperson for the Dallas Mavericks told me, "The Adelson and Dumont Families have already started and are committed to investing and building in Dallas/ Ft. Worth. The families have absolutely no plans to move the team out of North Texas." 

In either scenario — the Mavs staying or the Mavs going — the Adelsons will come out ahead. The Mavericks may have lost in the Luka Doncic trade, but the house always wins.

Nick Powell is an editorial writer for the Houston Chronicle.