It’s been a busy year for pro sports general managers in the city of Dallas.
Even in a year when the Stars’ Jim Nill traded for one of the NHL’s best in Mikko Rantanen, two moves stand above the rest. The Mavericks’ shocking trade of former star point guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cowboys trading star pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers shook sports fans in Dallas to their core.
In a recent radio appearance on “The Hardline” on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM), former longtime Rangers GM Jon Daniels was asked for his thoughts on Doncic and Parsons.
“They should trade for those guys, they’re good,” Daniels joked.
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“My son, who is 18, he’s a huge, huge Mavs fan and that floored him, you know,” Daniels added. “I feel like the Micah stuff you could kind of see it coming a little bit.”
As a man who was in charge of those kinds of decisions for nearly two decades, Daniels also offered his two cents on how a front office considers a fan base and its emotions when it comes to transactions involving beloved star players.
“I think you have to be aware of it. Even just when every organization trades guys they send out the social media ‘thank you for your time.’ You know they’re aware. It’s not like you’re oblivious to it,” Daniels said. “At some point you’re like, ‘it’s just the right move.’”
He went on to discuss the moves he made that ended the Texas tenures of key players like Ian Kinsler and Michael Young.
“You’re thinking about how you want to sustain. How do we make this a 10-year run, 20-year run instead of a three to five-year run, but at the same time, you want to be sensitive to these players that made huge impacts,” Daniels said.
“Ian Kinsler, Michael Young should have never played another day in another jersey as I look back on it now, right? That wasn’t really my mindset at the time. I probably should have been more sensitive to all the number 5 and 10 jerseys and the kids with the posters. That wasn’t that wasn’t top of mind for sure.”
Listen to Jon Daniels entire radio appearance here.
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