The Dallas Mavericks honored recently retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo on Tuesday by having him participate in shootaround, pose for a team photo, join the layup line pregame and "almost" check into their game against the Denver Nuggets. He was also introduced as their sixth starter.
The Mavericks' original plan, though, was to have him actually play, according to owner Mark Cuban. He said that the league was not exactly in favor of this, via ESPN's Todd Archer:
If Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had his way, Tony Romo would not only have dressed for Tuesday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, he would have found his way into the game.
When he approached NBA commissioner Adam Silver with the idea, Cuban said, "I told him what I was going to do and said, 'Fine me if you don't like it.'"
Silver told Cuban the contract would not be honored, which killed the idea but did not stop the Mavericks from honoring the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback.
"Signing him and stuff like that, would have been too much for a lot of reasons," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said before his team's 109-91 loss. "No. 1, he's a football athlete that's not ready to play in an NBA game. That's very risky. No. 2, to sign a guy with all of our requirements from a physical standpoint with the hours and hours of screening and all that kinds of other stuff, it just wasn't worth going there. And that's not really what this is about."
You know, this probably worked out for the best. Dallas got to do something fun and special for Romo, and it went far beyond what most teams do for stars in other sports. If he had actually signed a contract and played a game as a publicity stunt, though, it would have set a strange precedent. These end-of-season games are often meaningless, but -- are you ready for my hot take? -- they should probably only include professional basketball players.
