Blockbuster NBA Trade Sparks Idiotic 'Racism' Firestorm
The Dallas Mavericks completed a blockbuster trade with the New York Knicks on Thursday, just a week before the NBA’s trade deadline.
The trade is official.
Here’s what the Mavericks and Knicks are getting in their blockbuster deal. https://t.co/xX3qXrBoM0?#MFFL #NewYorkForever pic.twitter.com/zZ2Agr5q5K
— SportsDayDFW (@SportsDayDFW) January 31, 2019
It’s a monumental move for both franchises that could alter their respective futures for years to come.
There were plenty of basketball reasons for both teams to pull the trigger on the trade, which saw the Knicks trade All-Star Kristaps Porzingis as the tax to dump a pair of onerous contracts, while the Mavericks can now pair Porzingis with their rookie sensation, Luka Doncic.
But a glance at the internet found something far more malevolent regarding the trade than basketball reasons.
As the idiotic far left somehow sussed out, this blockbuster trade became the bloody glove proving that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a racist.
The reasoning? Doncic and Porzingis are both white, as is former franchise superstar Dirk Nowitzki.
It’s utter insanity.
Mark Cuban low key racist
— Evan ? (@Evanocity) January 31, 2019
Someone tell @mcuban that he doesn’t have to have a giant foreign white guy on his team. It’s like he’s saying, “I’m not a racist because he’s international.” #itsajoke
— Chris Meadows (@meadoz) January 31, 2019
Mark Cuban is racist don’t @ me
— P A T H O S (@Curt_______) February 1, 2019
And that’s not just a sampling of the vocal minority. A cursory search of “Mark Cuban racist” on Twitter yields quite a few results all echoing the same sentiments.
Never mind that two of the most beloved Mavericks players in history are Jason Terry and Michael Finley, both of whom are black. The fact that Cuban has had the gall to build around a German, a Slovenian and a Latvian player makes him a racist, apparently.
Now, is Cuban racist for having these white players while denigrating American basketball culture and lauding European basketball culture?
Of course not.
First and foremost, Cuban’s controversial remarks have nothing to do with race. There can be white American players and black European players.
Second, Cuban’s right! It’s almost inarguable that American basketball culture focuses on individual stardom and highlight-reel plays, while European basketball culture focuses more on fundamentals.
The dolts crying “racist” are very clearly ignoring, or being intellectually dishonest about, the very real basketball reasons the trigger was pulled on this trade.
For the Knicks, they had to give up the best player they’ve drafted since Patrick Ewing just to dump a pair of bad contracts. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee were slated to count for over a combined $30 million against the Knicks’ cap space. Porzingis, who has all the potential in the world and is still only 23, became the hefty tax to erase those deals.
New York also picked up a pair of future first-round picks from the Mavericks, but they’re not due to convey for another couple of years so it’s almost impossible to gauge their true value.
More importantly, the Knicks are now projected to have enough cap space to make a big move for two max-level free agents this upcoming offseason.
The Knicks could be staring at $74.6M in projected cap space for next season. That would be good enough for 2 max slots.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 31, 2019
Knicks fans are hoping that copious cap space turns into Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
For the Mavericks, the team was able to pair their brilliant 19-year-old rookie Doncic with another tantalizing franchise cornerstone in Porzingis. Considering the Mavs’ inability to sign big-time free agents in recent seasons, it makes sense that they would eschew cap space in favor of a tangible, albeit recovering from an ACL injury, star.
For a franchise that hasn’t had much luck (or a playoff series win) since a 2011 NBA championship, it’s a coup for the Mavericks to turn expiring contracts, one prospect who’s more potential than actual product in Dennis Smith Jr. and future draft picks into Porzingis.
So as has been clearly laid out, there were plenty of reasons for both teams to make the blockbuster deal that they did.
But yeah, let’s keep crying racism.
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