MAVS NEWS:

[omahen]

I'm not sure you are talking about culture here.  You are talking about loyalty and specifically loyalty to your 'face of the franchise' superstar.  Outside of Dirk we've always flipped players just as aggressively as anyone else.  But, loyalty is a two-way street and it includes more than just contractual loyalty.  Dirk wasn't a prima-donna in any way.  He worked harder than anyone most of his career.  There were times he made financial sacrifices for the good of the team.  No matter the details that either eventually come out (or don't), I don't think we can argue that Luka lived in the same neighborhood as Dirk in these other cultural elements.

I think Dallas is more unique in their loyalty to their franchise player than most of franchises. That is why I think it is more than just loyalty, it is the culture. I mean most of complaints around here and on social media are exactly about this. Fans reaction can tell you, that he was highly regarded. I never compared him to Dirk the person, you did. 

Not sure why you brough your subjective opinion of Luka in the discussion, I spoke about what I think Nico miscalculated, which is evident based on fans reaction, at least what seems like a large share of them. Some things need to be countered. This prima-donna as you called him fought through injuries whole playoff run, never once complaining or seeking excuses. While he was limited, he delivered in crucial games in all three West series. As others have pointed out, Mavs as a team were just worse than that Boston superteam in the finals. Redick mentioned in one of his podcasts that Luka, unlike most other stars, never demanded special treatment. He is also mostly loved by teammates. The prima-donna never complained about the quality of roster he was given in his first four seasons with Mavs and the incompetence of the FO, unlike many other stars we regularly see around the league. I think he showed plenty of loyalty to the team and it hurts, the team finaly put a good team around him and then just robbed him of the chance to compete with it. Of course he is not perfect, no one is. But, he has a lot of success behind him. Unlike many other superstars, especially his peers. Tatum is the only one of his peers that is more successful, but he has a true superteam around him and he wasn't even the finals MVP. All other winners in past years were older when they did it. Zion never went past first round, Trae was in WCF once,... As I said many times before, I prefer to focus on the positive than the negative.

A fear of offering him a 350 mil contract is constantly mentioned. No one mentioned an option, that some safety measures could easily be proposed to be incorporated in the deal. Zion contract is not guaranteed if he doesn't play this and that many games and I think also linked to his weight. Mavs never tried to reflect this supposed issues contractually. Someone just decided at some point, he doesn't want to bother anymore - something totally unprecedented for such superstars. I mean, Memphis put up with way worse stuff with Morant, for example. Zion is a far worse case yet he is still with NO. Trae plays zero defense but Atlanta never considered dumping him. They will probably have to in the summer because he will demand it - something Mavs were never forced to do.

I think fans perception would be much different if Luka refused these kind of conditions and demanded max deal without any of them in the summer. All of that would be possible if there was a will to work together. But, Nico obviously didn't want to give the chance to him, because he was either affraid to "give control" to Luka in the summer (like it is possible he would get a worse deal in the summer) or simply just never really wanted to bother with Luka.