Beyond cultural bonds and former coaches, a decade of history fuels rumors of the "Greek Freak" joining Luka Doncic to reshape the Mavericks' championship trajectory in Dallas.
FRISCO - To truly understand the theoretical emotional tie that Giannis Antetokounmpo might have with the Dallas Mavs, you have to go back to a time well before new team president Masai Ujiri came to town.
Yes, the fact that Antetokounmpo and Ujiri share a background due to their Nigerian roots is worth noting.
But the tie pre-dates that.
Yes, the allure can also be due to the fact that fellow European star Luka Doncic came here in 2018.
But the tie pre-dates that.
And yes, the fact that Giannis' former Bucks coach Jason Kidd (recently fired) had been in charge in Dallas for five years deserves mention.
But the tie pre-dates that, too.
Let me take you back to 2013, when then-Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson had a master plan based on his mastery of the Who's Who of international basketball.
Not unlike what he did with Euro star Dirk Nowitzki before Giannis and with Euro star Luka after Giannis, Donnie developed a relationship with the Antetokounmpo family when the future "Greek Freak'' was in his early-teens.
We used to half-joke at the time that Donnie had moved Greece and "moved in'' with Giannis' family, or at least had erected a tent across the street from where the Antetokounmpo family lived.
Half-joke.
And then, in the 2013 NBA Draft, Dallas held the No. 13 pick. And Donnie's plans were coming together. The Mavs - thanks to Nelson and superscout Tony Ronzone knowing far more about Giannis and his desires - would select Antetokounmpo ...
And of course, knowing what we know now, he would've been a perfect Twin Tower partner with Nowitzki.
But as detailed in the story we broke at the time, team owner Mark Cuban opted for another direction.
Cuban made the decision to pass on Giannis with the No. 13 overall pick in that NBA Draft to instead save a few hundred thousand dollars (of cap room) or so by trading down ...
Because that extra dough was earmarked for free-agent target Dwight Howard, the superstar center Cuban was certain would accept his invitation to come to Dallas.
So Dallas traded down to No. 18 in order to save some money, and drafted Shane Larkin.
And then Dwight didn't come here.
And Giannis landed in Milwaukee.
All due to a measly few hundred thousand dollars that - again, as we said at the time - surely could've been massaged away with Howard had he really wished to sign here.
The vision that could've happened but didn't? Dirk gets to work with Cuban's guy (Howard) and with Donnie's guy (Giannis). And Giannis goes on to win his MVP trophies in Texas instead of in Wisconsin.
Mavs fans hate that this franchise goofed up and Steve Nash and Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic were all allowed to leave with essentially nothing coming back in exchange?
Maddening.
But the Antetokounmpo gaffe, to me, might be the worst mistake of them all.
Fast-forward to today, and Antetokounmpo is on the Milwaukee trade block. ... with the Mavs included in rumors regarding his next landing spot.
I don't see how Dallas has the ammo to pull off such a trade, though we know that in the NBA, superstar players who want to move often get what they want.
Would Antetokounmpo "want'' Dallas?
Dirk is gone. Donnie is gone. Luka is gone.
The Mavs long-standing interest in the two-time MVP Giannis surely remains; want to fast-track Dallas' return to the living? Pair Giannis with 19-year-old Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg and we've got something.
But the only tie in place anymore involves the new boss Ujiri. And in the unlikely event that he can pull this off?
The Mavericks will have an MVP candidate in Giannis, a defending ROY in Flagg, and a likely 2026-27 Executive of the Year in Ujiri.
