Luka Dončić trade teaches college sports fans hard lesson about professionalization
The sports world was rocked last night with the news that the Dallas Mavericks were trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. This trade came completely out of nowhere, surprising everyone from your average fan to leage executives in the NBA. Some have even already labeled it the most shocking trade in NBA history.
There's a solid cross-section of Texas A&M fans and Mavericks fans, so many regular readers of this page are probably going through it right now. The five stages of grief are plastered all over Mavs Twitter right now, and I'm experiencing it a bit myself as a diehard Maverick fan, but I think there's also a lesson here that's relevant to Texas A&M proper— and the college sports scene in general.
With the professionalization of college sports that we've seen begin to take place over the last few years, it becomes harder and harder to become attached to players the way we did in the past. The free transfer and NIL have made mercenaries out of plenty of players who are looking out for their own interests— as well they should, in many instances— but as a result, many fans are reluctant to go all in on rooting for guys on their team.
This Texas A&M basketball team is a rarity, for example. Zhuric Phelps and Pharell Payne are transfers, yes, but the long retention of players like Manny Obaseki, Wade Taylor, Andersson Garcia, and Henry Coleman has allowed this to become a team that A&M fans know and love— not just because of the jersey, but because of the players wearing it.
But as the college sports scene more and more begins to resemble a professional setting, those kinds of bonds will become more and more rare. Who's to say that trades like this won't begin to happen under whatever new setup that we see in college football, basketball, or baseball? It seems foreign to us right now, and the way that might work is still TBD, but it's certainly a possibility that something like that happens.
The fan scene in college sports is changing rapidly. The fallout from this Dončić trade is profound— and if the professionalization of college sports continues apace, something earth-shattering like this could soon come to a team you love at that level as well.