Have The Mavericks Restored Their Connection With The Fans? | DLLS Mavs Podcast

Have The Mavericks Restored Their Connection With The Fans? | DLLS Mavs Podcast

Have the Mavericks restored the connection between themselves and the fans? What Rick Weltz had to say about it? And we’ll talk about it coming up next on the DSM podcast. Hey, what’s up DLSS Mavs Nation? It’s your man Kevin Gr alongside Mavericks beat writer Tim Ko. We of course are DLLS Mavs, your favorite guys cover your favorite team every single day. What will constitute a successful season for Cooper Flag? Plus, have the Mavericks restore the connection between themselves and the fan base. A lot to get into on this Wednesday episode. Thank you for joining us here on DLLS Sports. Shout out to our guy Bobby Krella who’s going to be on vacation for the next week. So, he’s going to get a chance to get some RNR and we’ll hold it down here with our guy Mark Stein coming up at 12:30 here on the show. Tim Ko, what’s going on? I have a feeling, unlike you, that we will not see Bobby in the comments. That’s true. Online in the text chats. That’s right. I am pretty sure that this man might have left his phone in Dallas. not his computer because you know that’s that’s where the Pokemon is. He did say he would join us live when LeBron joins the Mavericks. So, we may see Bobby at some point over the next week. God, LeBron do the funniest thing and make Bobby fly back from vacation early. That’s right. Yeah. Or at least make him join the show while he’s on vacation. No, he’d have to fly back. Oh, he’d have to come all the way back here just to do the Yeah, I mean there there’d be a lot to coordinate. There would be a lot to discuss for sure. How how would we operate as a company without Bobby Carala? Well, we’re our our leading light, our guiding voice. Well, we’re going to try over the next week because he’s not here. Uh so, how have fun with my guy uh on vacation. Uh we’ve got a lot to get into in today’s show. As we mentioned, our guy Mark Stein was joining us at 12:30. The Mavericks have announced their preseason schedule and officially where they’re going to be holding training camp this upcoming fall. Plus, a lot of breaking news when it comes to the NBA and what’s going to be happening overseas this upcoming preseason as well. But we start with our first topic today because Mavericks CEO Rick Weltz was on Bloomberg TV a couple of days ago discussing the state of the franchise for the Mavericks, where they are potentially a new arena coming in the next several years, what that will look like, but also what the state of the franchise is in the wake of the Luca Dash’s trade. Now the Cooper flag of course the number one overall pick for your Dallas Mavericks is now part of this franchise. Let’s start with this Tanner. Question was posed to Rick Weltz about the connection with the fans if there’s been any regrets about the Luca Donets trade. Here is what Rick Welts had to say. I got to go back though to Luca and I’m just curious like we’ve all done things where we’re like if I could do that over and you talked about the hundred days of grieving. Do you have any regrets or did you learn anything especially, you know, based on your fan reaction? But first of all, any regrets in in in making the trade? You c you can’t have fear or regrets in this business, right? It’s all about h how you move forward. And you know, so it doesn’t really serve a purpose to to have regrets. What I what I will say, I learned about the depth of the connection between Mavericks fans and this team, and that to me was uh glass half full because I knew we could restore that uh over time. I didn’t think it would happen quite as quickly perhaps as it’s happened. I would also say I’m incredibly proud of how uh the organization presented itself for Luca’s first game back uh at American Airlines Center when he was a Los Angeles Laker. I think if you watched that game, uh, it was an opportunity for fans to say thank you. I think you saw the emotion on Luca’s face. You saw the way, uh, that night unfolded and tributes to Luca. I think he’ll always be such a big part of the history here. Uh, and, you know, we wish him nothing but good luck, but we also hope we beat his team every time we play him going forward. You can’t have fears or regrets in this business. It’s all about how you move forward. I learned about the depth of the connection between Mavericks fans in this team. Tim Ko, your reaction to what Rick Wells had to say there. You know, as Gangaden said just now in the comments, uh, it’s a corporate answer. And it is. And what are the Mavericks to say? Like there is nothing the Mavericks as a franchise gain benefit if they say, “Yeah, we regret that trade. We we had no idea.” You know, like they’re never going to say that. They are never at any point going to say that. they have to answer the the the question in some way. I do believe based off combos I’ve had and combos combos with people in the team, combos with people who talk to people at higher levels and if the the Mavericks at least like they they get it like there are certain people within the organization who did not realize that this backlash was going to be what it was and if they had known maybe maybe possibly it would have been something different. Maybe this would not have been something that happened, but but they didn’t know. They didn’t know. And certainly that’s I I would pose that I I would say that is a hypothetical that people think about I would agree that what Rick Welt said there’s no regrets that they have to operate with no regrets. I would say that is the the correct uh you know description of the Mavericks franchise and of how they’re operating going forward. If there was tr truly regret and I mean this in a in a in a way that they still probably will never admit it, but Nico Harrison would not be the GM if there was so much regret within the franchise that they felt like it was a mistake. like they they would have gone ahead and I I really think made changes if they felt a deep sense of regret. I do think that hypothetical comes up with important people within the organization. And as far as the connection, have you established the connection? Have you reestablished the connection? On one hand, it’s not for us to say. Um stop me if you’ve heard me say this before. You have heard me say this before. Um, every fan has their own relationship to the team. Sure. And when we talk about the fan base, when I talk about the fan base, I am not referring to any individual person. I’m not referring I am doing my best to summarize hundreds and thousands of unique opinions into a a broad strokes. Um, you know, I I I went on and you know, I remember like on on the on the low p uh on the low post uh or just not the low post name show that I was on Monday. You know, I remember he asked me to kind of summarize and and I do think that the majority of fans, broadly speaking, want to root for the Mavericks. They want to. And there are there is a segment of the fan base that just almost for moral reasons which I kind of get you know and we’re talking we’re talking much lower stake morality than you know like world events or politics or stuff like this. It’s sports but sports are important. They matter because we assign meaning to them and there are some people who just flat out have moved on have have irreparably uh their relationship to the team has changed. There’s a lot more who want to root for them. I’ve said this before. I think the saddest group of fans are the fans who tried to keep rooting for the Mavericks, kept watching games, and just the emotions weren’t there anymore. And I do think Cooper Flag is covered over a lot of that. And I do wonder if and when Luca gets off to a blazing hot start and the Lakers are top four in the Western Conference, you know, near Christmas and the Mavericks just aren’t quite that because they started the season without Kyrie Irving and maybe Anthony Davis wasn’t ready or, you know, maybe he was and then he missed some time and Derek Lively is is in and out of the lineup and and if this just doesn’t gel, you know, I do wonder how much those emotions are going to come back in a very strong way. So, I don’t think the relationship is is fully repaired. I think it’s coded over. Sure. And I think that it’s in a better place where the Mavericks have more autonomy over it. And I think that’s important because as soon as you traded Luca, we talked about this after they traded Luca, everything was about like the the the entire way that this would fail or not. Sure. Was what Luca did in with the Lakers. And now at least you have Cooper flag. you have a new era and you have the ability to restart everything with Cooper flag in place and win fans back that way. And maybe maybe you can thread it by doing the two timeline vein and doing it all at once because Cooper is here and the exciting new future is here. Dallas has more autonomy over it, but I don’t think the relationship is repaired uh fully. And I think, you know, I think it’s going to take longer for that to happen or or it’s going to take Cooper’s ascension for that to happen. Yeah. I think a couple things. Number one, you know, a really long answer. No, no, you’re fine. I think there should be a recognition. Just pretend that that was me and Bobby both answering. Got it. Got it. And now, now it’s back to you. Got it. Um, for some fans, they will never heal from this trade. And for those who don’t, that is the connection that they had with the player and the franchise in a way that they felt that the trust was broken in the wake of this trade. Now, for fans that are still a part of this team and a part of this fan base, if there wasn’t the understanding and the recognition of what the player meant to the franchise, now you have the opportunity with Cooper Flag to be able to not only reestablish that connection, but double down on the ability to understand what the player will mean to the franchise and his fan base going forward. And oh, by the way, if you do some winning along the way, that can help restore some of the connection. But there has to be a true sense of understanding about what has happened here. But also moving forward, how can you put Cooper Flag in a position to not only be embraced by this fan base, but also ensure that the fan base is embracing the franchise in a way that’s deep and meaningful to be able to reestablish some of that trust. Because inevitably with the trade, the trust between the fan base and the franchise was broken. you do now have a chance with Cooper Flag at this team to be able to figure out the best way to move forward so that everyone can feel good about this team because I imagine most fans want to feel good about this team and the era that’s about to happen with Cooper Flag now that it’s here. How do the Mavericks consistently and daily build upon that so that when fans come to games, attend games, watch games, they feel good about not only the product, but the fact that Cooper Flack is going to be a part of this franchise and that connection will be established for years to come. Uh given what he could be meaning to this fan base in the wake of this trade at this Yeah, I agree with all that and and certainly there are fans who are who are over it. You know, this is what I mean when I don’t speak. You know, I I I try to generalize what a lot of fans are are feeling. Uh there are certainly fans who are just purely want to be Mavericks fans. There’s there’s fans that disagree with what happened, disagree with the trade, disagree, you know, are sad that L that that Luca is gone, but they’re just M stand. Like they they’ve they’ve come they have reached the point where they accept I am a Mavericks fan and so I am going to root for Cooper Flag and it’s very exciting to root for Cooper Flag because he’s Cooper Flag. So they’re going to be fans of the scene no matter what. Yeah. No matter what. Yeah. You know, and at times our comment section leans one way or leans the other way. Like right now I I I think it is leaning, you know, more towards the Nico has to go until we can we can heal. I’m seeing a lot of comments like that. Trust me, like the other side and there is a a you know, a a percentage a noticeable chunk of the fan base that does feel that other way and and often are represented in that way. Uh you know, so I guess the other thing is is you know, you know, the the Mavericks hired. Uh do we have one more clip to play? Uh we’ll be able to get to it at some point, but yeah, go ahead. Okay. You know, I was I was I was going to talk about the the the incoming uh CEO uh Ethan Kase uh who comes new president. That’s right. Yeah. He’s a new he’s the CEO and president of of the business side operations. Doesn’t really have anything to do with basketball, but because we’re talking about fans, I just wanted to bring up real quick a a quote from uh Rick Weltz uh or it’s from the team statement. Um he says of of Kase uh Rick Welds does he will be my partner in charting the team into the future and will allow me to devote more time to our strategic priorities including the building of a new arena and entertainment district in Dallas and our transition from a basketball organization to a sports and entertainment company operating uh our own venue. I know this is all fine in business, in corporate, and I’m sure that certain people in the Mavericks, like I’m sure Rick Waltz can run circles around me in terms of the exact business lingo and and specifics of all all how all this works. All I’m going to say is that I don’t think there’s a lot of Mavericks fans who look at the Dallas Mavericks and think, “Oh, hell yeah. They’re going to be a sports and entertainment company now. They’re not a basketball organization. They’re a sports and entertainment company.” I know it’s, you know, it’s whatever. You know corporations uh in this structure in this society in the in this country they always aim to grow and expand and get bigger and make more profits and earn more revenue. That is the point within the structure the American construct is that a corporation is always aiming to pro you know like we’re going to talk about NBA Europe or uh a little bit later and I think NBA Europe for a lot of reason makes sense uh and and you know the NBA’s argument uh is that they can run it better than Euro Basket and and FIA but FIA does exist basketball does exist in the NBA it’s just the NBA looking at basketball in Europe and saying oh we want a chunk of that we want you know we can make more money off what you guys are doing even though there’s a very long established culture. It does strike me a little bit like this where it’s like the team’s priority is to keep growing this and you know expanding what this corporation is and the more I think of the word corporation and the more I think sports and entertainment company rather than basketball team the less I think that the team is directly focused at repairing a relationship with the fan with the working fan who just wants to go to games support the team support the players they love you know I think this all ties in the whole reason that you trade Luca Donuch is the idea that oh this better for our bottom line because we’re going to win a championship sooner, even if you know, like I’m I’m super summarizing some of these thoughts and I know we need to hit a break, but I I just will say that as the team talks about repairing the relationship with the fan base and then also talks about how like business is booming and we’re going to expand it into something never seen before in any NBA franchise. I just want to acknowledge in my view, in my perspective, Tim Ko, my perspective on this, there is a little bit of a disconnect between what the Mavericks are pitching and selling and building and growing and the bottom line of are fans the number one priority to the organization, like they will say in various interviews like Bloomberg and other places, especially in the way it was managed. uh from the time of the trade until the time the Cooper flag was drafted. There’s a lot of repairing that has to be done between the fan base and this team. Uh and it starts with recognizing that these fans are the most important because without the fans, none of this really happens to begin with. Let’s take our first break here on the DLS Mavs podcast. When we come back, what constitutes a successful season for Cooper Flag? Plus, a little bit later on, we’ll be joined by our national NBA insider Mark Stein with all the news around the mass and the association. coming up next. 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DLLS listeners can receive a $350 discount when using promo code DLLS. Yes, you heard that right, a $350 discount with code DLS. Restrictions apply. Visit Empire Today/DLS for full details. What constitutes a successful season for Cooper Flag? Plus, we’ll be joined by our national NBA insider Mark Stein coming up in our next segment at 12:30 with news around the association and of course the mowers announcing their preeason and training camp schedule which we’ll get into here in just a moment. We’ve been talking, of course, about the comments from Rick Wells, the CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, who went on Bloomberg television to discuss the state of the franchise, where the Mavericks are, and what that means for them this upcoming season where of course they will have not one, not two, but three number one picks on this franchise with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and of course, Cooper Flag joining this team. Expectations varying across the NBA when it comes to the Mavericks and their prospective season. But at the same time, Tim Ko, nothing is disputed when it comes to the anticipation of watching Cooper flag on the floor this upcoming year. Of course, the 68 product out of Duke led them to the final four in his lone season in Cameron. Um, but at the same time, or I should say in Durham, he played in Cameron in Door Stadium, of course. um what will constitute a successful season for the number one overall pick given not only the expectations for this team, expectations for him, what it means for the next couple of years because this is a window three years Nico Harrison that has been created where they feel like they have a chance to win a championship. Uh as we’ve been talking about how the fan connection can be restored, how much winning that happened with Cooper Flag around. This is the weirdest situation a number one pick has come into like since Tim Duncan obviously where on one hand like when’s the last time a team going into the season with the number one pick where the biggest storyline was not about the number one pick because I think I think Cooper’s way up there. I think he’s a huge story line. Let me not undersell that. But I think the biggest story about the Dallas Mavericks remains Luca Donuch, Anthony Davis. the way that the team reshaped its roster. I still think that’s like the national media is going to focus on both of those things. They’re going to focus on Cooper flag, but they’re going to focus on that part of the equation as well. And the Kyrie Irving injury, the Kyrie Irving injury, Irving injury. Um, so Cooper is coming into a team where he’s going to be asked to do a lot and he’s going to have a lot of expectations to be good right away. Not just not just promising, not just showing potential, not just scoring 20 points, but inefficiently because it’s a rookie year, it doesn’t matter. Get as many shots as you want. This is a training uh you know, this is a test lab. You know, this is a laboratory for you to go refine your game and get better. That’s the situation for most number one picks. Paulo, his first year, just got to shoot the ball as many times as he wanted. Wim Benyama his first year. You want to shoot a bunch of threes by all means we’re gonna let you figure out your game on the fly. I think and and again this is kind of the disconnect of the Mavericks that we’ve talked about. Cooper flag and to some extent I think he’s going to get a lot of freedom to try stuff out even as the team is focused dead focused on winning on being a title contender. And we debate whether they think, you know, a gap year where they’re just like kind of a bang average, you know, play in team fighting for, you know, fighting for playoff positioning come March. Hopefully they get Kyrie back then, you know, like we we don’t we’re not even sure for sure whether the team is okay with that or not. And so it’s it’s both higher expectations and lower expectations in the sense that he’s not the main story line of any number one pick in the past two two and a half decades. I think a su successful season is you know rookie of the year because I think he’s the best rookie and I think he’s in a position where he’s going to win and he’s the overwhelming favorite to win it. Yeah, he’s the overwhelming favorite. Rookie of the year is obviously a success. I’ve said this before. I think, you know, um I think I think how he responds to whether you see growth, whether you see him being a better player in February and March than he was in October is also very important. Um you know, I think I think that’s pretty much the case for any number one. like you want to see them get even better as the year goes on. But especially when you look at like someone like Cooper and he has always challenged himself to higher and higher levels of competition and he has always um by in doing so he’s always kept improving. You know I I think that’s going to be pretty important. I don’t really have numbers for him. I think you know I I think he probably averages a bit under 15. I I don’t I don’t know if he’s gonna clear the 15 mark. Uh 20 is like astronomically high. Yeah. If he’s averaging 20 points a game, he’s had a hell of a rookie year. Yeah. And I I think I think that he can be the easily the best rookie in the entire NBA, one of the best rookies in recent memory and still average 15 because of everything else he does because of the connective passing, because of because of everything else. You know, I’d like to see if he’s going to be a number one option, I’d like to see a a 35point game or two, an outburst or two throughout the course of the game. That that would be that would be fun. That would be enjoy. I mean, Zachary Reese had like a 40-pointer, you know, like I’d like to see a game or two where we can see him as that uber number one option, if he is going to be that. And I I think I think there are scenarios where he doesn’t end up being he ends up being like a top 20 player but still just a second option, a top 30 player. Like I think that’s a perfectly I think that’s a great outcome for his career. I don’t think we should put ceilings on it. Like I I think that this is a guy who maybe potentially can be top 10 player in the NBA at some point in his career and it’d be cool if we started seeing that. Uh but yeah, just just the just the baseline excellence I I think is what I most expect from him. And I think baseline excellence means he’s the rookie of the year and means it isn’t too close. Yeah, one of the things I’m excited about when it comes to Cooper Flag is the positions that the Mavericks are going to put him in to showcase his versatility. Uh we know what we saw in summer league in terms of him being on the ball, facilitating offense, going to go get his own offense for himself and for others, but also what it’s going to mean on the defensive side of the ball for him. He’s going to be a tremendous, you know, help defender and be able to be a really good help side and weak defender as well. So, his offensive versatility, I think for me, is what I’m most excited to see what develops for him throughout the course of the year because defensively, he’s going to fit right into what the Mavericks are trying to do from being one of the biggest teams in the NBA with Lively Gaffford. Obviously, Anthony Davis, Cooper Flag going to be a part of that. But how much his offensive game grows and what is expected from him on that end of the floor, I think is what is going to be the most exciting part for him. how he develops his three-point shot, how much more creative he gets in terms of his ability to understand what offenses or defenses are trying to do against him offensively, and how he improves from game to game, night in and night out. And I think a successful season for him. Not only is he rookie of the year, but he has a chance where he’s averaging 13 to 15 points per game where he’s getting six to seven boards in a game, but also really affecting the defensive end and becoming a versatile uh aspect of that end of the floor because we know how important Anthony Davis is going to be in terms of his defense this year. Super Flag guarding multiple positions and his ability to do that I think gives the Mavericks that much more versatility. be creative on the defensive side of the ball. Uh where Cooper can really shine this upcoming year for sure. I want to see him everywhere. I want to see him as the ball handler creator. I want to see him running pick and rolls. I want to see him coming off screens. I want him to see him setting screens. I want to see him off the ball. I want to see how great his cuts are. I want to see him in transition. I want to see him in transition. I want to see him guarding star point guards. I want to see him guarding centers at times. I want to see him switching everything. I want to see him as the low man who rotates over try to get a tries to get a block, you know. I want to see him in staggered pick and roll sets where he’s the third guy, you know, pick and popping for a three. I I just I I think that there is nothing on the basketball court that he is not at least competent at doing. And I want to see a little bit of everything. I I do think that the the one funny thing about the team construction is that some of the things he’s best at is, you know, the weak side roaming help defender. And whenever he’s on the court with Anthony Davis, more often than not, Anthony Davis is going to take that role. And he is certainly Cooper Flag is somebody who can run pick and roll, set screens, uh, you know, uh, he’s somebody who can, um, you know, triple threat from from beyond the ark and, you know, end up as a guy who who, you know, pump fakes and gets to the rim. But I also I really like him as a post player. I really like him as a high post player. And what’s funny is when he’s on the court with Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis is going to be the priority to get those looks, the priority to be setting screens with a guard. Uh now, of course, like Cooper Flag and Anthony Davis will run pick and rolls together. Uh probably like they’re they’re going to run inverted pick and Anthony Davis will be the wall handler with Cooper Flag setting a screen. And I do think that the Mavs future with a Kyrie Cooper pick and roll is is just going to be that that I that I am very excited to see. So, I do want to see everything. I I do think that it is interesting and and and fixable and not fixable. Uh you can work through the fact that there’s some redundancy in the spaces that Cooper Flag and Anthony Davis are best because they’re both very good basketball players and Cooper is so versatile. He can do everything. But I hope we get a chance to see him do literally everything uh in early and often. And I I I think if there’s one thing I’m I’m most excited for is just seeing that versatility. And I saw a comment earlier about how Cooper Flag is not going to be not going to be first team all the NBA in five of his first six seasons. And look, comparisons are the thief of joy. And inevitably, Cooper Flag is going to be compared to Luca Don just because of all the things that have transpired over the last several months and where Luca is and who he’s playing for and Cooper Flag being a part of this team. But for this season especially, I really just want to enjoy what he’s going to look like as a player. night in and night out and how much more growth he’s going to show every time he steps on the floor. And part of that molding into what this team expects to be, but also trying to navigate what’s going to be a difficult Western Conference all season long. His growth and what that looks like for this team is going to be paramount in terms of any kind of success that they have. So, I hope that folks will have fun watching Cooper Flag because he’s going to be a hell of a player. one that I’m excited to see, especially in transition because he is a freight train in a locomotive out there on the open floor as we saw in summer league. So, there are going to be really exciting aspects about his game uh that should give fans the idea that Light could be at the end of the tunnel with the skill set that he presents, not just offensively, but more so, especially in this first year that we’re going to be watching uh on the defensive side of the ball, which this team is going to pride itself on on the defensive end and being one of the best defensive teams in the league. He should fit right in to exactly what they’re trying to achieve on that end of the Let’s take our next break here on the DLS Mavs podcast. When we come back, we welcome in our national NBA insider Mark Stein with the latest on the Mavericks training camp schedule and news and notes around the association they get ready to go overseas later on this year. All that and more coming up next here on the DLS MAS podcast. But it’s hot outside, especially in this Texas heat, and you want to have your cold beverage with you anytime that you want to step out and be able to enjoy yourself. With Rugged Road, you can be able to do that with their Rugged Road coolers. Rugged Road is dedicated to creating innovative and durable outdoor gear for adventures who demand the very best. Our products are designed with the highest quality materials and craftsmanship, ensuring they perform in the toughest conditions, whether you’re on land or water. Rugged Road Gear is built to accompany you on every adventure. They’re crafted to handle the toughest environments. Their coolers are built to last as well. Be sure they keep up with any adventure. 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Maybe it’s been a favorite pair of sunglasses at the beach, the roof of your car, a gas station three states away. You know, as I love to say, a patio bar where the sun goes down. Maybe this is time. Maybe this is a wakeup call to switch to Shady Rays because Shady Rays has changed the game. They make sunglasses for real life. They’re seriously good-looking, polarized, durable, and not stupidly expensive. But here’s the wild part. If you lose or break them, even on day one, Shady Rays will send you a brand new payer. No guilt trip, just replacements. We’ve teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you an exclusive offer. Head to shady.com and use code DLS35 for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rate of five stars by over 300,000 people. Let’s welcome in our National NBA insider Mark Don. You can always dial up the Stein Line at the Stein Line. Our guy has been busy uh this morning into the afternoon here on He’s busy every day. That is very true. He’s busy all the time. Uh, but we appreciate him hanging out with us here for our last couple segments on today’s show. Mark, what’s going on? Hi guys. Sorry for missing the first two segments. I greatly appreciate your flexibility. It has been a bit of a wild morning and thank you. Well, we appreciate you hanging out with us because we know that you’re a very, very busy man. Let’s start before we get to the stuff that’s happening with the NBA as a whole overseas coming up this fall. The Mavericks officially announced today, Mark, that they’re uh their preseason schedule and that they will officially be in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for training camp this year, September 30th through October 4th. Uh what more can you tell us about that? I hope you didn’t doubt me when we said it before. No, I I did not. You are the authority when it comes to news around this team, especially if it’s Canada. I mean, yes, a training camp trip to Canada. Vancouver, one of the greatest NBA cities, a city we miss badly, those of us who were old enough and fortunate enough to go there and cover games there. So, yeah, they made it official today, September 30th through October 4th. Simon Frasier University, four exhibition games. Um, if you guys haven’t gotten to this part yet, I hope I can remember them off the top of my head. I know they got the they’re going to play the first game at Dicky’s Arena in Fort Worth if I’m remembering correctly against Oklahoma City. The bookend game is October 15th in Vegas against the Lakers that your favorite guys who cover your favorite team might be in attendance for if everything goes well. That’s right. We hope we hope so. They got a Is it a Are they home against Utah and away to Charlotte or do I have that backwards? Backwards. Yeah, I couldn’t remember at all. Uh they will be at home versus the Charlotte Hornets on October 11th. So, shout out to Khan Canipple. He’ll be facing his former teammate uh Cooper flag in that game. That will be at American Airlines Center. And then of course uh at Utah uh where the Mavericks will take on Ace Bailey in the Utah Jazz. That will be Utah game. That’s right. Tanner’s He’s not with the bell today. It’s fine. Utah lost. He has He’s He’s very specific. It’s got to be Utah lost. Uh, I sure hope this isn’t another. So, this is not a bell ringing. This is not a bell ringing situation. What? Yeah, Tanner’s the arbiter on this one today. No bell. Mark Stein, how has it been nine months and you still don’t know the rules about the Utah loss? Mad Tanner has been See, there we go. There we go. Tanner has been Tanner has been kind of salty with all of us dating to yesterday or he’s running a tight ship. He’s like, “Look, get it together, okay? and get it together. Year two, Tanner. Well, we’re not quite in year two yet, but year two Tanner is clearly going to it’s going to be a different ball game. Uh, we’re almost there, though. I mean, look, I you know, again, I don’t know. I mean, I hope I hope we can get to Vancouver. That’s not the easiest trip. They couldn’t have picked more much more of a far away place from Dallas, but that’s kind of the point. teams. A lot of team, you know, some teams stay home, but a lot of teams like to get away as far away from their home base as is reasonable and bond. And, you know, they’ll be I don’t know that there’ll be two a days every day, but I’m sure at least one or two of those days. Jason Kid will schedule two a days. And I don’t know if any of it will be open to the public. My instinct is probably not. I don’t think anything in Vegas. I don’t remember anything in Vegas being open to the public. So, this is really just to get far away and basically get the season off to a very team first, team friendly start. But look, you know, you guys know I love my travel. If you’re going to tell me that the preseason has training camp in Vancouver, a Vegas game mixed in, and you know what, I’ve only been to Dickies Arena once. I went to go watch the Women’s Tennis Association finals. They’re massive, massive arena. I mean, that will be fun to to to go to a different part of the greater DFW area and and see a game. I in the preseason I always want to go I like going to places that we don’t normally get to watch games at like just we just had dinner with um my wife’s parents were over my youngest was celebrating a birthday and they spoke of my wife’s parents are in the cattle business they spoke of a trip to Sou Falls and instantly I remembered going to Sou Falls South Dakota with the Mavs nearly 30 years ago for an exhibition game and look In the 80s and 90s, Sou Falls was a famous CBA city, like one of the most well-known outposts in the old Continental Basketball Association. If you ever have your guy Leggler on, you can ask him for some Sou Falls story. So, just like I I fondly remember going with the Mavs to Sou Falls. I remember the Mavs playing an exhibition game at Wisconsin where of course Michael Finley going back to his alma mater. That was a big deal. I I I like those preseason excursions. You guys can tell me how you feel about it. Yeah, I mean OKC plays in Tulsa every single preseason. Uh to the point of of camps elsewhere. Uh certainly there’s I I don’t know off the top of my head. Maybe maybe five to 10 teams that consistently do camps not in their home city. Maybe it’s a little bit more than that. There’s also teams like the James Harden Rockets. uh they would do a pre-amp camp with all the players in usually the Bahamas or Jamaica and you know that that kind of was a similar thing. I think a lot of teams are doing that now like you’re going to those are never announced because those are supposed to be players only but in the month of August you will hear of teams that hold those gatherings. The Mavs did one last season I remember I think it was in LA. Mhm. And I would I you know certainly wouldn’t surprise me if we hear of something like that again. I mean, the the Nuggets, they always go to San Diego, and I believe they’re going back to San Diego. I remember being a Laker beat writer going to going to Honolulu twice and, you know, prayers to everyone in Hawaii facing these just terrible, terrible storm conditions. Um but like uh so that yeah I mean that that that I mean talk about a a you know a long way from home for a training camp trip. I remember going to Honolulu working for ESPN. So being five hours behind five or six hours behind the time zone of where I was working that that was that was strange. So, in the preseason, we see some we see some curve balls like that, and I am all for it. And Kevin Gray, we’re putting Kevin Gray in charge of finding a way to get us to Vancouver. That’s he’s responsible. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’ll find it for sure. Um, what I do, what I do, what I do, Tim Ko, is I tell I tell him every day, we have no chance. There is no way we can make this work. And I know it just gets reverse psychology. Yes. He wants to prove me wrong. Don’t tempt me with a good time, Stein. Don’t tip me with a good time. Um, have you been to have you been to Vancouver? I have never been to Canada. Um, so I would love the opportunity to go uh to see our brothers and sisters. Uh, is there a Westgate in Vancouver? I’ll talk about that afterwards. Okay. I I I thought about going one time where I went I spent like 10 days in Vegas for summer league. Maybe not 10, I think it was eight. Then I went to San Francisco for a few days and then I met uh your Substack uh uh co-writer Jake Fischer. We uh we swung through Portland for for a few days on a little uh little trip and I thought about what if I just packed on couple more days in Vancouver, but at that point I was I was ready to go home. So I’ve never been. I have always wanted and inshalah this will be the moment that it happens. We will see for sure. Uh before we take our next break here, I did want to ask you real quick because yesterday uh was July 29th, which means it’s exactly one month away before PJ Washington uh is officially extension eligible. Uh he’s eligible to sign a 4year near $89 million uh contract extension. Um, you may have to do more reporting on this, but I just wanted to ask you, where do things potentially stand between PJ Washington and the Dallas Mavericks with respect to that contract extension, which feels like probably the one of the final pieces of business that they would want to potentially accomplish uh this summer. You answered the question. I need to do more reporting on it because August 29th is still a fair bit away. And this weekend we have some guys who become extension eligible. A certain Luca Donuch in Los Angeles, De’aran Fox in San Antonio the day after that. Trey Young’s extension eligibility date has slipped my mind. I don’t know if Mr. Ko I see he has the laptop open. Maybe he can help me and look that up while I’m babbling. Trey is also coming up on extension eligibility. So, in all cander, I have to say that I’ve probably been trying to figure those ones out more first because August 29th is a bit still away. But now that you have chided me publicly for not having an update on it, I will get to work. August 29th is correct, by the way. Yes. For for for Trey as well. Oh, I don’t I don’t know about him. Sorry. Yeah. I I tuned out for a second. I was I was writing a comment. Lock in, KO. Lock in. I was locked into the comment section. Turn your turn You can turn Discord off during the show. And I’m not even on Discord. I’m in the comments. I’m in the live comments. Just because you don’t have to pull them up. Like, you don’t have to pull it up doesn’t mean I’m not in it. I I am not the victim here. Or I am the victim here. Wait. No. Let Kev let Kevin throw it to break, please. Mark host one show. I know. He’s He’s all over it, man. He’s all over it. Let’s take our final break here on the DLSB podcast. When we come back, more with our National NBA insider, Mark sign, including the NBA going overseas, boys and girls. More details on that coming up next. But I want you to become part of our DLLS sports family. And the easiest way that you can do that, become a diehard member. We’ve got our best offer going right now. 36 bucks right now. Our training camp intro offer where you can become a diehard member for just 36 bucks a year. Our Dallas Cowboys out in training camp in Oxnar, California. Still waiting on them to pay Micah Parsons. But at the same time, you can become part of our DLLs sports family. You can scan the QR code if you’re watching us here or if you’re listening, go to alldls.com, click the die hard tab, become part of the DLLS sports family. Also, what are you pointing at? Well, I’m not in I I need I’m not in frame at all to point. There you go. You wanted to point at Nope, not at all. Uh back. That’s right. Or you That’s right. You can go to store.allcityetwork.com as well. We’ve got our new Dallas collection that’s available to shop right now. We’ve got tremendous merchandise. I’ve got the Mavericks DLLS uh shirt part of the Dallas collection as well. I saw our guy John who produces of course the Cowboy show wearing the DLLs sports um road sign shirt as well. So we’ve got tremendous uh merchandise there as well. So again, store.allcityetwork.com if you want to get in on that. And we’ve got our DLLS road trip coming up November 15th to the 18th where you can hang out with our Cowboys crew uh coming culminating in a Monday night football tilt uh against the Las Vegas Raiders. So you can hang out with Clarence Hill Jr., You can hang out with Jeff Kavanagh, Jesse Holly as well. Uh, thanks to True Fan Travel for making that happen with the DLS road trip happening in Sin City. Uh, we’re probably we may be able to warm up Sin City once again for them because we’ve already done it once, but then we can do it again in October uh when the Mavericks take on the Lakers at T-Mobile. So again, the best way you can support us here alll.com become a dieh hard member. 36 bucks our training camp intro offer. our best offer going right now and we are less than 2,000 subscribers away from reaching 30,000. So, if you can subscribe to DLLS Sports, we’re trying to reach 30K by our one-year anniversary coming up here very, very soon. Let’s finish up here on the program today with our National NBA insider, Mark Stein. You can always dial up the Stein line at the Stein line um where we discussed already the Mavericks have announced their training camp schedule, preseason schedule, and they’ll be in Vancouver for training camp this year. But Markstein, the NBA continuing to expand its global footprint and is going to be doing so later on this fall, not only in Vancouver where there’s going to be a preseason game there, but also in London and in England. What more can you tell us about that? Well, I think you guys know me pretty well by now. So, you know, I’ve been covering this story since like the 6 a.m. hour cuz a lot of this was timed to appeal to the European audience. But basically, there’s a lot of things going on here. First of all, Adam Silver and Mark Tatum, they’re in Europe this week to meet with they want to talk to all kinds of potential stakeholders for the NBA Europe League they’re working on. Now, today they specifically announced six regular season games over the next three years in major European cities. So, not just Paris anymore. Last season, right? Last season, we saw the Spurs and the Pacers play two in Paris. The year before that, they played one in Paris, and that’s kind of been the January go-to here. But this season, it’s going to be Berlin and London. The Desmond Bane Derby, there’s going to be two straight Desmond Bane derbies. One in Berlin, one in London. Both regular season matchups in January. In 2027, it will be Manchester getting the London game, which you guys can imagine I will be there. I’m already making plans, yes, for January 2027. I am incredibly psyched. It’ll be the first regular season game ever in Manchester. There has been some exhibition play there. I got to cover a Team USA Team GB game there before the Olympics in 2012 that I’ll never forget. But to have a real regular season game at the stadium that is right next to my beloved Manchester City, I think you guys can figure out how much I’m going to be looking forward to that one. And I think that announcing six games is just indicative. It’s just yet another indication of how much the European market means to the NBA. But I also reported this um right before this show started. Adam Silver met today with Kier Starmer, the prime minister of the UK. He and Mark Tatum. So that kind of shows you like the levels of seriousness that the NBA is trying to apply here in terms of they want to make they want to make NBA Europe happen badly and they want franchises in England and England doesn’t you know the British British basketball their top level is far below the Real Madrids the Barcelonas the Panathanakos and Olympiaos in Greece it’s it’s not it’s not close to that level. So if there is a team in London, if there is a team in Manchester, they’re basically going to have to create those franchises. But then they also were meeting today with officials from Galataseray, the Turkish soccer power because Galatasarai, which again in the world of soccer, a massive, massive, well-known club, Galatasaray would love to have a basketball team in this new NBA Europe separate league that the NBA hopes to start. We don’t know how soon it’s going to be. Can this be 2728 or is that too soon? Exactly how many teams would be in it? How many exist like would Real Madrid and Barcelona join the league? Would they leave the Euro League to do so? Is there a partnership coming that the NBA can work out with FIA that maybe the Euro League would continue to exist, but maybe Euro League clubs or some Euro League clubs end up participating in the NBA’s league as Well, I mean, there’s there’s a zillion unknowns, a zillion variables, but I mean, it is it is very notable that last week of July, both Adam Silver and Mark Tatum are in Europe meeting with a bunch of powerhouse potential partners to try to find parties that want to join this thing. And it it’s fascinating. It’s fascinating to see if the NBA is going to pull this thing off. And there is a direct correlation to NBA expansion because there is a feeling among many in NBA circles that the NBA wants to do NBA Europe first possibly first. It’s I don’t think it’s set in stone, but might we see NBA Europe go down first before expansion because this is a you know Adam Silver is you know Allstar game finals his Vegas press conference. The NBA Europe story keeps coming up. It’s clear that this is something very important to the league. They see a business opportunity here. Basketball even at the highest levels in Europe has never been profitable like we see in soccer. And the NBA thinks that they can go into Europe, start a league of their own with, you know, let’s say 12 franchises to start and really really make it sing. And it’s a it’s a really interesting story that has captivated a lot of people around the around the world who love this game. minute. I mean, you know, I I tell you guys this all the time. International basketball is what helped me get my start, being able to cover Vlad Divas and Serunis Marcelonus and Alexander Vulkoff when those guys came over for their first summer league. Like that was that was really my jumping off point. So, I’ve always been very intrigued by this whole part of the basketball ecosystem. And yeah, I’ve I’ve I’ve been I’ve been chasing this stuff all morning cuz I I’m really intrigued by it. Sounds like a hell of a massive undertaking uh by the league to potentially create something like this uh overseas, the logistics involved to create a separate league uh with the amount of moving parts. Um, first thought that came across my mind was if they were able to pull something like this off, wouldn’t mind seeing a uh UEFA Champions League type of tournament at some point uh where you get the biggest clubs in the world involved, maybe a couple of NBA teams or two uh who might be willing to participate in something like that. It seems like there’s a lot of uh endless possibilities. I did want to ask you kind of as a um a followup to that, why is this so important to Adam Silver specifically uh to get something like this off the ground when there have been conversations about expansion uh here as far as the regular NBA is? Well, you know, in the old days or, you know, when when I was a much younger beat reporter, the talk was always the NBA will eventually expand to Europe. And I think they’ve just realized and they’ve known this for years. It’s not like this was a recent realization. It’s the practicality of having even a even if you added five teams and put them all in Europe and had a European division, travel to Europe is still very time consuming. We don’t have the Concord anymore. We don’t have supersonic jets that can get us to London in 3 hours. So, the practicality of having an NBA franchise in Europe, as much as that was a storyline through the 90s and the 2000s, I think the NBA realizes that that’s pretty impractical. And even something that I’ve been a huge proponent of purely just me spitballing selfishly trying to speak this into existence. I always thought the NBA should try to do All-Star Weekend in London or Paris or Berlin. And even doing that, even just taking the league in February, taking taking so much, you know, taking the league’s best players and so much so many league officials, even just trying to do that for a 5 to 7 day period, even that was considered too daunting. But this is a deal where the NBA, they look in the mirror and say, “Look, we run leagues. That’s what we’re good at. That’s what we’re best at.” They think the NBA thinks it can run a league better than any of the existing entities that have done it in Europe to this point. And I think there are major major challenges that they’re going to face because soccer in so many of these countries is just such it is the most popular sport and in a lot of places there isn’t even a second place. That’s not a blanket statement. We could certainly pick out some countries where basketball is much closer to soccer in popularity, but you know, again, England is the starting point for this conversation because that’s where a lot of these meetings are taking place this week. And it’s not the case. It’s just not like basketball has a long way to you guys know how much I love England, how often I travel there, how how much I love English soccer, but the reality is that basketball is not close to soccer. So, if you start teams in London and Manchester with Euro League level rosters, how are they going to draw? If Real Madrid or Barcelona enter NBA Europe, if Galataserai puts a team in NBA Europe, they’re gonna have huge fan bases because they already have huge fan bases. But how many new teams have to be started from scratch in this venture? That’s something we don’t have the answer to. It’s not clear. But, you know, the London Lions are the, you know, standout franchise currently in British basketball. Could they be brought into the league? Could they be brought into the league instead of having to start from scratch? But in Manchester, you would have to It would basically, it would probably be Man City putting a basketball team in NBA Europe. I of course would or United or United. Sorry, my my earpiece cutting out. I didn’t hear anything. Um, you know, but like again, it’s there there are so many steps and so many questions that need to be answered, but the interest is clearly there. I mean, what did we see over the weekend? We saw Mizno Raznadovich who is connected to Excel Sports as an agent but one of the most prominent basketball agents in Europe posting a picture with LeBron James and Maverick Carter on a yacht in Sanrope Sanrope I can’t even speak San Tropé France and the caption that Mishko put on there was you know working on big plans for 2026 six because I’m sure you guys have heard of this other league that has enlisted Maverick Carter, LeBron James’s longtime business manager, to advise them because they want to raise 5 billion and start their own competitor to the NBA. So clearly there is great interest abroad for multiple leagues that want to get going and start. And it’s like I said, we we could talk about this for hours because the the possibilities are endless. Yeah, it’s a lot that the NBA uh is thinking about and obviously continue to expand its global footprint uh around the world. Mark, as always, we appreciate your time. We look forward to uh hanging out with you tomorrow here on the DLSSM podcast. I will I will be on the run again the next two days, but I will I will find you guys wherever I am. Well, we appreciate it. We’ll talk to you then. All right, guys. That’s our nationalsider Mark Stein. Uh good enough to join us here on the DLS mass podcast. Fascinating stuff happening across this league uh with respect to expanding over into Europe. uh NBA Europe, NBA expansion here uh in the US, the NBA going to Canada uh later on this fall with NBA exhibition games as well. Uh and of course your Dallas Mavericks going to be holding training camp uh in Vancouver, Canada. So uh the NBA moving about the world in a lot uh of different ways. So yeah, but why are they ducking Plano, Texas, my hometown? Well, you know, they want to build a new arena here in Dallas, Rick. They they they want to go to far off exotic uh nomadic places. Yeah. Check out this town called Plano. Okay. P L A N O and it’s a good city. Used to live there. Good. Wow. I wouldn’t go that far. Wow. Oh, wow. Jeez. My hometown town. I could talk whatever I want. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I’ll let you disrespect the f good folks over there in Plano. My parents don’t even live there anymore, so you know, it’s not like I’m It’s not like I’m I’m trashing them. Well, good. That’s good to know. Uh we appreciate our guy Tanner making us look good and sound good as always. Thank you, sir. Of course, we will have our regular show again tomorrow. Don’t forget Bobb’s out for the week with on vacation. So, shout out to our guy. So, tell your friends they can tune in again. If you want to see a Bobby Carellis pro Carella program, uh you can tune in for the next week or so. No, I miss him already. I do too. That’s our guy. Uh he loves his Mavericks basketball. Um, but it’s time for us to get out of here. Ready to go? Let’s go. Let’s go. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us here on the DLS Mavs podcast. Make sure you like, comment, and subscribe to DLLS Sports. We’re trying to reach 30K by our oneyear anniversary coming up here in less than a month. So, the easiest way you can support us here is subscribe to DLLS Sports and download and subscribe to our podcast wherever you get your podcast for free. Just search DLLS Mavs. Give it a fivestar rating and write a review for it while you’re there. We’ll be back tomorrow right here at 12:00 p.m. on DLLS Sports. That’s our M beat writer Tim Ko. I’m your host Kevin Gray. We are DLLS Mavs. Y’all be good. Enjoy the rest of your day. We’ll talk to you later. Peace.

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Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks begin a new era this season, but has the franchise adequately restored the connection between them and the fanbase in the wake of the Luka Dončić trade? The guys react to Mavericks CEO Rick Welts comments about the state of the franchise, plus discuss what will constitute a successful season for Cooper Flagg. Marc Stein joins the show to break down the Mavs training camp schedule and goes around the association with the latest breaking news and notes!

#dallasmavs #nba #cooperflagg #anthonydavis #kyrieirving #dangelorussell #derecklively #pjwashington #danielgafford #klaythompson #najimarshall #jasonkidd

00:00 Intro
02:44 Does Rick Welts regret the Luka trade?
12:53 Welts’ comments on the new President/CEO
19:33 What constitutes a successful season for Cooper Flagg?
32:12 Marc Stein joins the show
32:57 Mavs officially announce preseason schedule and training camp location
40:54 P.J. Washington about to become eligible for a contract extension
45:51 NBA execs overseas meeting about NBA Europe League

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