NBA Rumors: Luka Trade Fueled by Casino Interests?

^{Former Dallas Maverick guard Luka Doncic (center), now with the LA Lakers, is also at the center of a casino-based NBA conspiracy theory. (Image: Jae Hong / AP)}

Did one of the biggest trades in NBA history hit the tape thanks to a brand new downtown casino, or rather lack thereof? Were there some shenanigans going on that help explain it? Let’s take a look.

If you follow the NBA or sports in general or maybe even just have a phone, you have probably heard about the Luka Trade. For anyone who missed it, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, their 25 year old Slovenian superstar widely considered a top 5 player in the NBA, to the LA Lakers for a package headed up by future Hall of Famer Anthony Davis, who is six years older than Luka and somewhat injury prone.

The trade quickly jolted Las Vegas NBA championship odds in the Lakers’ direction.   

Trading a superstar is far from unusual in the NBA. At any given time it feels like someone is in the middle of a soap opera-worthy split from his current team. These break-ups usually go on for weeks or months and get written about and discussed ad nauseam. They almost always involve older players on their second or third mega-contract. And the teams always get a king’s ransom when they move a star just by the nature of the NBA where a single dominant player can transform a franchise. 

The Luka trade, however, stands out as arguably the most shocking trade in NBA history -- by virtue of his young age, the secrecy all parties maintained (no word got out, even a rumor) and the fact that the Mavs didn’t get full value back. Apparently they didn’t even try to recoup Luka’s value as they focused more on keeping it out of the public eye than they did trying to get a better return.

Evil Adelson Master Plan?

These oddities, and the world we live in now, have led to some wild rumors about the true motivation of the trade. Namely that the Mavs owners, the Adelson Family of Las Vegas Sands casino fame, orchestrated it as a way to tank the value of the franchise so they could then move the team. 

Why do that? Well, the Adelson family made their fortune as casino moguls and have dreamt of pairing the Mavs with a casino complex. But that’s not likely to happen any time soon in Dallas. They had been pressing, with Marc Cuban, after all, for casino legalization in Texas -- efforts that so far have gone nowhere. 

So if the Mavs can just depress their fan base, attendance and TV eyeballs will drop and they will have no choice but to move the team to somewhere more gambling-friendly. And hey look, Las Vegas doesn’t have a team, so how about there? 

If this sounds familiar, well maybe that’s because it reads like a rebooted 2025 script of the totally classic 1989 movie “Major League.”

The plot there? A Las Vegas showgirl inherits a then moribund Cleveland Indians team and has her sights set on moving the team to Miami. Unfortunately, she can only get out of Cleveland if attendance drops below a certain number, so she does all she can to tank the franchise. Hilarity ensues.

Back in 2025 and real life, the Mavs deny any ill-intent behind the trade. Which is of course exactly what would say if you wanted to tank your tank so you could move it to Vegas ... I'm kidding.

Back to NBA Arena Reality

Is there some smoke here? I strongly doubt it. Former Mavs owner Cuban had long sought to move the Mavs to some sort or arena-casino complex in Dallas. New arenas and stadiums now all tie themselves to local real estate development and of course that involves sports books and/or full casinos when possible. 

Unfortunately, Texas remains one of the few states yet to legalize sports betting. 

It is not for lack of trying. The owners of the 11 major sports franchises in the state lobbied hard for sports betting legalization in 2023. The Adelsons and Cuban were a major force behind that. The effort failed. And since the Texas legislature only meets in odd years and would need to amend the state constitution to allow sports betting, there was now a long wait. But according to my math, 2025 is an odd-numbered year, and hey, Governor Greg Abbott appeared on the Houston Chronicle’s “Texas Take” podcast, and spoke out in favor of legalization.

“I don’t have a problem with online sports betting,” Abbott said. “The reality is that I’d be shocked if there were not some Texans that do it already.”

It still remains a long shot in 2025. Lt Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the state senate and has eyes on Abbott’s job, remains an opponent of legalized sports betting and casinos in general.

So yes, the Adelsons no doubt have become frustrated. But there is just no way they would abandon this market, nor would the NBA allow it. With a population of  8,100,037 as of 2023, the Dallas-Fort Worth market is the 4th largest metropolitan area in the nation. Further it added 152,598 residents from 2022 to 2023, making it the fastest growing metro area in the country in terms of absolute numbers.

The NBA is widely expected to add two expansion teams in the next few years. Las Vegas and Seattle remain far and away the most likely locations to win a franchise. Perhaps there is a scenario where the Adelson’s get the Vegas franchise in a new arena tied into a casino, effectively in exchange for the Mavs. But there is just no way tanking the Mavs aids in that effort.