The Dallas Mavericks announced Monday, March 3, 2025, that they’re hiking season ticket prices by an average of 8.61% for next season—barely a month after trading Luka Doncic, the Slovenian wizard who hauled this team to the NBA Finals last year, to the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? “Ongoing investments in the team and fan engagement,” they claim. Investments? Engagement? Someone tell owners Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont that shipping off your franchise cornerstone and then charging fans more to watch the fallout isn’t “engagement”—it’s a stick-up at the turnstile.
Luka Doncic, a five-time All-Star who averaged 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists this season, is now dazzling in LA, turning the Lakers into title contenders while Mavs fans choke on their $12 arena nachos. In exchange, Dallas snagged Anthony Davis—a 10-time All-Star, sure, but a guy so injury-riddled he might as well bubble-wrap his jersey. Davis dropped 26 points in his Mavs debut on February 8, then hobbled off with a groin injury and hasn’t suited up since. Meanwhile, Luka’s thriving in purple and gold, and the Mavericks’ brilliant fix? Raise ticket prices and call it “fan engagement.” That’s not a strategy—that’s a slap with a side of audacity.
Adelson and Dumont, who scooped up the team from Mark Cuban in November 2023, must think Mavs fans are suckers begging to be fleeced. They’re touting how full-season ticket holders will “save 15% to 23% compared to projected secondary market prices” and how 4,200 seats per game stay under $40. Adorable. But this is their second price gouge in two years—last season, fans saw jumps of 20% to 50%—and it follows their axing of a loyalty pricing program that rewarded longtime supporters. Now, with Luka gone and the team limping at 32-29, 10th in the West, they’re charging more for a downgrade. That’s not “investment”; that’s shaking down the faithful who didn’t jump ship after you sank it.
The timing’s so atrocious it’s almost poetic. Fans have been raging since the trade—protesting outside American Airlines Center, dragging a blue coffin to Dirk’s statue, getting tossed from games for “Fire Nico” signs aimed at GM Nico Harrison, the brains behind this blunder. And the owners’ big move? Not a mea culpa, not a rebuild pledge, but a bigger bill. An 8.61% upcharge to watch Kyrie Irving and a brittle AD try to salvage this dumpster fire. It’s like charging premium for a flat tire and calling it a “luxury ride.”
Adelson and Dumont aren’t just clueless—they’re orbiting Pluto. They inherited a Finals contender with Luka at the wheel, traded him for a guy who’s one sneeze from the IR, and now expect fans to bankroll their “vision.” Investments in the team? Where? The roster’s a patchwork, the morale’s a morgue, and the only engagement is fans bonding over their mutual disgust. Maybe they’re betting on Dallas’ blind devotion, but here’s a reality check, Miriam and Patrick: you don’t get to gut a franchise’s heart and then charge extra for the corpse. This isn’t basketball ops—it’s a money grab with a Mavs logo slapped on. Enjoy the cash, you tone-deaf tycoons; those boos echoing through the AAC are your new theme song.
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