The Dallas Mavericks are still dealing with the fallout of their decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. While the team is firm in the assertion that this was best for the franchise’s long-term future, the questionable trade return they’ve gotten has incensed fans. It’s made worse by the franchise’s repeated failed attempts at explaining the deal to their fans.

Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont has infuriated fans every time he’s spoken about the reasons behind the Doncic trade. His most recent comments explain in more detail what went through his mind while approving the deal.

“Tough decisions are never easy and a part of leadership is looking at risk and looking at all the factors of a decision and being willing to act at that time and look to the long-term and not only think about the short-term or how it may be received immediately.”

“For us going into the trade deadline last year, we were not competitive, if you recall, we were not a playoff-bound team and we were able to do some things to reconstruct the roster and enable the team to become very competitive, and after the trade deadline last year, we actually had the best record in basketball. Which was a big accomplishment and we got to the championship games and we didn’t win and so we had to decide: how do we get better?”

“What can we do to improve our team? And so we looked at our trajectory during the season and realized that we did not get better, but the teams that we competed against, some of which we beat, did get better. So this was a decision about the future. If you look at our roster today and who we have, we feel like we position ourselves to be incredibly competitive against the best teams in the NBA.”

“I heard from the fans, I respect their voices, I listened, we know that this wasn’t easy. If we lost any of our fans’ trust, it was hard and I apologize, but I hope over time we can regain that trust through hard work, and that’s our plan. And hopefully people will believe in the long run that what we did was the right decision. Time will tell.”

Repeatedly implying that Luka Doncic was making the team worse is just honestly nonsensical. If something had to change from last year’s Finals loss to now, it might have had to do with everyone except Doncic.

These strawman arguments don’t hold weight to most fans, which is further deepening the rift between the team owners and their fanbase.

Trading a 25-year-old in his prime for an injury-prone 31-year-old like Anthony Davis and then trying to gaslight the fans into believing it was a move for the future is insane. Trading a player who was All-NBA First Team for the last five years, for a measurably worse player and calling it a win-now trade is also insane.

The Mavericks have repeatedly done both of these things, so it might be all we hear from them about this trade. With their own injury crisis likely guaranteeing they return to the Draft Lottery, the franchise is worse off without Doncic in every conceivable way.

Regardless, the ownership won’t admit it until the wheels completely fall off this iteration of the Mavericks.