In the year 2025, Dallas saw Micah Parsons and Luka Dončić, two future Hall of Fame talents, leave town at the ripe age of 26. And not just leave town, but escorted out via trade.
On Feb. 2, Dončić was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in arguably the most shocking trade in NBA history. And on Thursday, Parsons was dealt to the Green Bay Packers after a month of bad blood with team owner Jerry Jones.
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It doesn’t matter how justifiable a move was from a front-office perspective, how badly some relationships had deteriorated. That’s going to hurt for any fanbase that had been planning to watch those superstars lead their team for another decade.
Of course, despite the nearly identical broad strokes, there are some key differences to what could go down as the two most infamous trades in Dallas history. Let’s break down all the similarities and differences in a painful year for North Texas.
Similar: Both players had a bad relationship with management
Tensions had been simmering for Parsons and Jones for months amid unproductive contract extension negotiations, but reached a boil at the start of August when Parsons announced he was requesting a trade.
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Few expected the Cowboys to actually do it. And yet, looking back on how it all played out, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Jones was airing his grievances on a near-daily basis at Cowboys training camp and eventually reached the point where he was complaining how involved Parsons’ agent David Mulugheta (who seems to be coming out of this quite well) was in the process.
Whenever an owner and GM is starting to float just how unhelpful a player’s agent is, you know things are going badly. Jones seem fixated on getting the Parsons camp to honor an alleged handshake deal he made with Parsons in a 1-on-1 meeting in March, refusing to accept that Mulugheta, the guy Parsons hired to negotiate this exact deal, said no. None of this endeared him to Parsons, who wiped the Cowboys from his social media channels in response.
Micah Parsons got his trade request granted. Luka Dončić never requested a trade. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez)
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