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Adam Silver shuts down Mavericks relocation speculation

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Jackson Stone | Last updated Apr 17, 2025 1:19 PM ET

Despite their win over the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the play-in tournament on Wednesday evening, the vibes aren’t exactly sky high in the Dallas Mavericks’ organization in the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade. While Doncic and the Lakers prepare to host a first round playoff series, the Mavericks will have to win another elimination game just to have a chance to match up with the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder.

In fact, so shocking was the trade of Doncic to the Lakers that some fans immediately began speculating that the team’s ownership of the Dumont family was involved in some sort of conspiracy to sabotage the Mavericks in order to move them to Las Vegas, where they have business ties.

Recently, NBA commissioner Adam Silver shut down those rumors during an appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show.

“They’re not going anywhere. There’s no thought of that team going anywhere,” said Silver. “It’s true that the group that bought that team is out of Las Vegas but it couldn’t be clearer, and I just want to make sure that while there’s not any doubt that people have been talking about it, and it’ll turn out over time to be a good or bad trade, but there were no ulterior motives there. This team is staying in Dallas, in fact they’re looking to building a new arena in Dallas. So that’s that.”

A shocking trade for the Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers at American Airlines Center. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In the immediate aftermath of the trade, it wasn’t hard to see why many suspected that there could be some ulterior motive at play, considering that there is quite literally no historical precedent for trading a perennial MVP candidate, theoretically just now entering the prime years of his career, without him requesting for that to happen.

In the two months since the trade, the Mavericks have seen Kyrie Irving go down with a torn ACL, while Doncic quickly found his footing with the Lakers and helped lead them to the third seed.

Dallas will next take the floor on Friday evening against the Memphis Grizzlies, with the eighth seed in the Western Conference on the line.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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