Mavs Hot Rumor: LeBron James Trade to Dallas vs. Kyrie Irving Sign with Lakers?

Merging into Summer, LeBron ain't arriving, deserving Dak, deGrom is gone, and life without Netflix, all in this week's DFW sports notebook.

WHITT'S END 6.9.23:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

*It’s the sexiest of headlines but, sorry, LeBron James ain’t coming to the Dallas Mavericks.

Multiple reasons: 1. His Lakers just made the Western Conference Finals and crafted trade-deadline deals to customize the talent around him. Why would he come here?; 2. Besides Luka Doncic (who's going nowhere) what value can the Mavs offer in trade?! (I know NBA superstars get what they want, but the cupboard here is rather bare); 3. This is Kyrie’s passive-aggressive ticket out of town. His supposed “recruiting” of LeBron reeks of “Well, if I can’t play with LeBron in Dallas … I’ll guess we’ll have to make it work in L.A.”

*There was a time in Dallas-Fort Worth when the Cotton Bowl hosted the pro football rival Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Texans. When Southwestern Bell and AT&T were fierce competitors. When Chevron and Texaco competed for your gasoline dollars. And when 1310 AM The Ticket mercilessly mocked 570 AM KLIF radio legend Norm Hitzges.

The salve to all those squabbles? Mergers.

I wasn’t shocked at this week’s awkward-but-inevitable merger between the Frisco-based PGA and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Other than unique, failed partnerships such as AOL/Time Warner, Amazon/Whole Foods and Luka Doncic/Kyrie Irving, the merging of two giant companies into one bigger, better company is how America evolves.

Not exactly sure what will happen to the PGA’s new headquarters, the Byron Nelson, the Colonial or our local LIV defectors – announcer David Feherty and golfer Bryson DeChambeau – but I’m betting the merger will improve the game of golf.

As a kid, my family used to shop at Titches, which became Joske’s, which is now Dillard’s. Same for Sanger-Harris, which became Foley’s, which is now Macy’s. AT&T merged with SW Bell in 2005. Chevron with Texaco in 2000. Kroger and Albertson’s are about to merge. Since its debut in the U.S. in 1996, Red Bull has been unofficially – and deliciously – merging with vodka. It’s the combining of forces that spawned Guns ’n Roses (mixing LA Guns with Hollywood Rose) and allows us to order both Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the same drive-thru.

There wasn’t a “Super Bowl” until the NFL merged with the AFL (sending the Texans to Kansas City as the Chiefs) in 1970. It wasn’t until 1976 that the NBA merged with the ABA, which had been playing with a red, white and blue basketball, a star named Julius Erving and a crazy rule that allowed 3-point shots. “Major League” baseball didn’t come about until the American and National Leagues merged in 1903. Even the NHL merged with the old World Hockey Association in 1979. Boxing could use a good ol’ fashioned merger, one that would allow us to name a single unified world heavyweight champion, instead of like seven.

For the past year, the PGA and LIV have been savage enemies. But money – even dirty money – and the promise of success rectifies relationships. Even after the hardest of feelings.

The Dallas Cowboys signed Terrell Owens after he danced on Texas Stadium’s star. The Mavericks signed DeAndre Jordan after he re-negged on a contract agreement years earlier. The Texas Rangers re-signed Josh Hamilton after he spewed his “not a baseball town” insult.

And from 1994-1999 the on-air hosts at The Ticket constantly made a punching bag out of Hitzges, with unflattering impersonations and harpoons of his personal life merely because he was the top dog at their competitor station. But when The Ticket’s Cumulus parent bought KLIF’s Susquehanna parent in 2005, the animosity magically melted. “Them” became “us”, as awkward-but-ultimately successful bedfellows.

Because of the merger, Hitzges will someday soon end his Hall-of-Fame radio career at The Ticket, after years of his current co-hosts making him public enemy No. 1.

Similarly, golf is simply merging into a new era: Long LIV the PGA.

*Seems like just yesterday we were gnashing our teeth over Dak Prescott contract negotiations. Don’t look now, but it’s already that time again. 

When the Cowboys’ quarterback signed his four-year, $160 million deal in March 2021, he was the NFL’s second-highest paid player behind only Patrick Mahomes. Since then, eight quarterbacks have signed more lucrative contracts led by Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson this offseason. Also since then, Prescott has won exactly one Wild Card playoff game. At 29 and with his history of injuries and playoff flame-outs, whether Prescott “deserves” a contract extension is irrelevant. Because he’s getting one. 

And the sooner the better. Why? Because under his current deal his salary-cap hit in 2024 would be an astronomical $60 million. And because while the price of quarterbacks has skyrocketed the last two years, it will only escalate when Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow sign their new deals.

*Jacob deGone. News of the Rangers’ losing pitcher Jacob deGrom to Tommy John surgery until maybe 2025 made me think of their wasted investments in other supposed “splash” aces: Corey Kluber pitched one inning in 2020. Chan Ho Park had a losing record and an ERA of 5.79 over four cringe-worthy seasons 2002-05. The Rangers paid deGrom $30 million for his 30 innings this season. Buyer beware, rinse and repeat.

*The best things in life are free. Especially, Netflix accounts that for years you’ve been mooching off your … oops.

Guess it’s finally time to grow up. Grudgingly. pic.twitter.com/M824WbiMhI

— Richie Whitt (@richiewhitt) June 8, 2023

*Since “thoughts and prayers” don’t do diddly squat but money might help the victims’ families in some way, the Cowboys on Thursday wore “Allen Strong” T-shirts during their OTA session. If you want one, they’re here. Speaking of mass shootings, it’s akin to blasphemy here in God ’n Guns Texas, but this week I signed a petition supporting a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It would raise the minimum age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21, mandate universal background checks, institute a reasonable waiting period for all gun purchases, and ban civilian purchases of assault weapons. California my Texas, please.

*Hot.

*Not.

*If the Cowboys are interested in Dalvin Cook, they should be more interested in a much cheaper, only slightly older model: Ezekiel Elliott.

*Because I’m curious, adventurous and admittedly more than a little kooky, I once tried the 10-day “Master Cleanse” diet. Now I’m diving into Intermittent Fasting. It’s called “5:2”, meaning for two non-consecutive days a week I can eat only 500 calories. The other five? Simple, smart choices like fish instead of beef, brown rice over white bread, nuts over French Fries, Olive oil instead of butter, etc. Stay tuned …

*With Jason Kidd having his hands full developing raw(ish) young talent in Jaden Hardy and Josh Green, I don’t expect the Mavs to keep their first-round draft pick (10th overall) but instead include it in a trade for veteran frontcourt help.

*As a kid, I loved me some Land of the Lost on Saturday mornings. Talk about a show that hasn’t exactly held up. And to think, I was actually scared of Sleestaks.

*Wait, why is the Nuggets’ star Nikola YO-kitch but his nickname is JO-ker? We should call him the “YO-ker.” If you appreciate his skill-set, you would have loved Arvydas Sabonis.

*Guess Target wasn’t “taught a lesson” after all, huh? Upon all the backlash and protest and threats, the company up and sponsored Dallas’ Gay Pride parade.

*The Rangers have authored their hot start by essentially beating up on bad teams. That’s not a knock, as for the last seven seasons they were one of those bad teams. They are 26-11 against losing teams; 14-10 against winners. They’re about to get tested, as 20 of their next 26 are against above-.500 opponents. Starts tonight with a weekend series in Tampa against the baseball-best Rays, who are 46-19 and 29-6 at home.

*I think it’s weird that most of the world’s great chefs are men, but all the best cooks are grandmas.

*The fact that the Cowboys are moving Tyron Smith back to left tackle and shifting Tyler Smith to left guard means they believe the 32-year-old Tyron isn’t quite finished and the 22-year-old Tyler isn’t quite a finished product.

*As a space geek, I was in awe this week that the Webb telescope is taking photos of a galaxy – containing hundreds of billions of “stars” as big as our Sun – that is 20 million light years from Earth. A light year is six trillion miles. Now ponder 20 million six trillions! My pea-brain can’t fathom that size or distance or anything. But then my mind was really blown. Even with all our telescopes and manpower and advanced exploration, if space were as big as all the oceans of our planet we’ve only identified about one cup of water.

*This Weekend? Friday let’s watch some NBA with old friends. Saturday let’s jaunt up to Oklahoma for some running and then some gambling. Sunday let’s play some tennis. As always, don’t be a stranger.

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