by Paul Teetor
Shame on the Dodgers.
Shame on their ownership, management and the players too.
The franchise of Jackie Robinson, the team with the biggest immigrant fan base, the most gay-friendly organization in Major League Baseball, dishonored themselves on Monday by meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
Just by allowing Trump to meet the World Series champs and set up a photo-op in the White House helped to normalize his abnormal beliefs, his hateful approach to race relations and his bizarre, incoherent approach to global trade.
Trump took a brief time out from launching a global trade war and destroying hard-working American’s 401Ks – for no good reason — to take photos with the team, shake Shohei Ohtani’s hand and declare that the Dodgers superstar was as handsome as a movie star.
Every year on April 15, MLB honors Jackie Robinson’s legacy by celebrating his life, values and accomplishments. The Dodgers had every right to go to that meeting with Trump – it’s still a free country, after all — but it was an insult to Robinson and the progressive values he personified.
Since the day of their meeting with Trump, the Dodgers have gone 3-6 after their blistering 8-0 start. Even more shocking, they are now in third place behind both San Diego and San Francisco in the National League West.
And three days before Jackie Robinson Day, the Dodgers lost 16-0 to the Chicago Cubs – the worst shutout loss in franchise history.
Instant Karma.
Luka’s magical return
It was the greatest return since General Douglas McArthur came back to liberate the Philippines three years after being chased out by Japanese forces.
And it was the most emotional return since Muhammad Ali came back to reclaim the world heavyweight boxing title after three years in legal purgatory.
So mark it down: the night of Wednesday, April 9, 2025, was the day Luka Doncic returned to Dallas and proved that Dallas Mavericks General Manager Nico Harrison is (still) a blundering idiot.
It was also the day Luka became a true Laker, as he is sure to be for the rest of his illustrious career.
Oh sure, it had been two months since the trade that rocked the NBA. But before Thursday night Luka Laker looked like a neighbor who had wandered into the wrong house, put on the wrong purple-and-gold clothes, and would soon find his way back to his own house.
So, his return to Dallas, the reality of him leading the Lakers over the Mavs in a game that was crucial for both teams in terms of playoff positioning, was cathartic for several reasons.
First, the Dallas fans made it clear that they still loved Luka and always would. They blamed Harrison and the rest of the Mavs management and not Luka – who had always professed his love for them and for the city that took him in as an 18-year-old Slovenian whiz kid – for his sudden, shocking departure.
The Mavs management did do one good thing the night of Luka’s return: they put together a video tribute to Luka that showed many of his Dallas highlights – including leading the Mavs to the NBA Finals just last season, where they lost to the Boston Celtics.
Luka spent the two-minute, 20-second montage of his Mavericks career hunched over on the visiting bench, trying—and failing—to fight back tears. Memory after memory flashed by on the screen above him. Huge plays. Big laughs. Pure joy. Before long, the swelling music was drowned out by the crowd in Dallas chanting Luka’s name, welcoming him home. It was a truly powerful moment that never should have happened.
That was followed by something else that never should have happened – Luka scored 45 points, handed out six assists and grabbed eight rebounds while leading the Lakers to a 112-97 victory that assured them of the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs that start next weekend. They will play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.
Mavs fans are angry and sad at the same time. But the Lakers and their fans sure are happy – make that delirious – that the trade happened.
And let’s get one thing straight: Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka deserves zero credit for acquiring Luka, despite his minions in the mainstream media trying to gaslight fans into crediting Pelinka with “going out and getting Luka.”
No.
Absolutely not.
All he did was take Dallas’s call, listen to the proposal, and say yes.
That’s it.
And the answer was a no-brainer. When your competition offers you a golden gift in exchange for a copper statute, you take it.
The record is crystal clear that Dallas GM Nico Harrison called Pelinka, offered the 25-year-old Luka in trade, and said it would require 32-year-old Anthony Davis in return.
And Harrison has admitted that he did not call any other teams to gauge their interest in Luka, which is professional malfeasance of the highest order. He surely could have acquired a better package than brittle All-Star Davis and just-another-guy Max Christie had he bothered to let the 28 other teams in the NBA know that one of the five best players in the world was on the auction block.
Then he made it even worse, if that was possible, by trashing Luka in the media as fat, out of shape, lazy and possibly an alcoholic. That led to the fans’ insistent chant of “He’s not fat, bring him back.” But that chant was overwhelmed by the even more insistent “Fire Nico” chant that echoed throughout the arena all night.
It says here that Nico Harrison will be gone within two years, as the magnitude of his unforced error becomes clearer by the day. It was the kind of bone-headed move that can cripple a franchise for a decade while helping the Lakers stay relevant for the next decade.
As long as they have LeBron and Luka, the Lakers will be a legit threat to win an NBA title.
The Mavericks’ decision to trade Luka somehow makes even less sense today than it did two months ago, when it shocked both Luka and the broader basketball world. It’s already one of the most incomprehensible trades in the history of professional sports.
“Some have compared it to Babe Ruth, which is kind of cool,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game. Yet unless you’re the Yankees, it really, really isn’t. If you want to make history, you’d better be absolutely sure you’re on the right side of it.
The final score was 112 to 97.
Luka had 45 points.
Anthony Davis had 13.
Case closed.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
Being a sports fan doesn’t depend on whether a person is a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative. Most sportswriters, recognizing that fact, focus their attention on baseball, football, basketball, and the like. A sports writer who can’t resist incorporating his personal political viewpoint into his sports reporting and commentary needlessly angers those whose political viewpoints differ from his own. That adversely affects him, his reporting, and the newspaper that prints what he writes.