The Dallas Mavericks entered the 2026 NBA Draft with the #9 pick, the #30 pick and a fair amount of trade rumors swirling around them. After selecting Morez Johnson, Jr. at #9, things went dreadfully quiet on the trade front. As subsequent picks were made and the minutes ticked by, it seemed apparent that Dallas would be making a selection at #30 instead of packaging that pick with a veteran in an effort to move up the draft board. Any hope at picking up a young guard to help in the rebuild looked bleak.
Dallas, TX
Letters to the Editor — Dallas GOP, voting challenges, DART, American history, Cowboys
Political theater
Dallas County voters are being asked to accept confusion on election day at the polls as unavoidable. It isn’t. This mess was intentionally created by the Dallas GOP engaging in performance politics, not election integrity.
For decades, Democratic and Republican election judges in Dallas County have worked together to run welcoming, lawful and efficient polling places. That bipartisan success is being undermined by Allen West and the Dallas GOP, who seem to have chosen loyalty to Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump over voters.
After Republicans passed mid-decade gerrymandered maps that violated the law (by splitting precincts in half, thus forcing massive redrawing of precincts), they created a logistical crisis and blamed election workers for it.
In Irving, those maps cost us our Democratic congressional representative.
Now the GOP wants credit for security while Texas already has the strictest voter ID laws in the nation. If Republicans can send the state’s voter file to Washington, they can implement statewide voting and reduce confusion. They simply don’t want to.
This chaos isn’t accidental. It’s political theater designed to suppress turnout.
Liza Hameline, Irving
Voting should be effortless
If I have the right to vote, and voting by mail is a valid way to exercise that right, then why can the state ignore that right if I: failed to re-create a driver’s license signature, didn’t have a printer, didn’t have stamps, didn’t have a car, misread forms that haven’t been checked for errors, had a visual impairment or was impacted by a mailing delay longer than four days?
If citizens have the right to vote, then the process of exercising that right should be as effortless as possible. The state shouldn’t be able to shift the burden of running elections onto voters by making them jump through bureaucratic hoops.
Finnegan Motz, Dallas/Lochwood
Cheers and jeers for DMN
Cheers to The Dallas Morning News for 1. the Ultimate Puzzle Book, 2. the Sports section and 3. our local paper delivery person. I look forward to receiving the Ultimate Puzzle Book every month. The Sudoku Monster is quite a challenge.
The Sports section, although not quite as current as in recent years, is good. Your sports writers do a good job of reporting both national and local sports news.
Our paper delivery people are excellent.
Jeers to The Dallas Morning News news section. As Mario Vitale masterly reported in a recent letter to the editor, I find that the vast majority of the national and international news agencies used by The News are left-leaning. From reading most of the news articles, one would think a majority of North Texans are liberals. Recent election results don’t verify this. No surprise Fox News is the most popular cable news channel.
David Gordon, Bedford
We need DART
Re: “Density wrong for DART,” by Bill Pritchard, Jan. 1 Letters.
I can’t agree with Pritchard’s opinion on DART. In Nassau County, N.Y., the population is 1,900 per square kilometer and in Suffolk County, the population is 647 per square kilometer. The Long Island Railroad carries around 270,000 to 300,000 people every day and is the main transit artery for Long Island.
The railroad stops at many towns and transfers along the way, and includes a stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Texas roads are great, but it is not a long-term solution. We need to get cars off the road and mass transit is the solution. Imagine how much better and robust Dallas would be and can be.
I believe it’s not too late to continue building and improving Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The Long Island Railroad is well over 100 years old and still growing and improving. We can do the same with DART.
Jesse T. Reed, Flower Mound
Some other facts
Re: “A ‘convenient fairy tale,’” by Janet Worthington, and “Good tried to run over agent,” by Carl Herman, Wednesday Letters.
Now that it’s an established “fact” that Republicans have always staunchly supported civil rights and that Renee Good was killed in self-defense, we can move on to other “facts.” Pinocchio became a real boy, and the cow really did jump over the moon. Also, the fact that Rudolph has a red nose shows clearly that Santa Claus is a Republican.
Tom E. Stone, Dallas
The whole story
Worthington’s selective recall of American history fails to note that President Lyndon Johnson said that his voting rights legislation would lose the Southern Democratic vote for generations as the solid South immediately began switching to the Republican Party.
Richard Nixon’s Southern strategy of promoting “law and order” in Black neighborhoods and emphasizing state’s rights regarding progressive legislation further attracted their move. Now Donald Trump’s apprehension of people of color completes the transition.
James Clinton Cargile, Plano
A nightmare for Cowboys fans
In only two National Football League seasons, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix and New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye each has two NFL postseason victories under his belt. Each has also earned an appearance in the American Football Conference conference championship game, and one of the teams will be going to the Super Bowl this season.
In 10 NFL seasons, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the highest-paid player in the NFL, also has two postseason victories, although they were not in the same season.
I’m still waiting on Prescott and the Cowboys to make it to the National Football Conference conference championship game though. Then, maybe the Super Bowl?
A fan can dream, right? Because the last 30 years of being a Cowboys fan have been a nightmare.
Craig Renfro, Mesquite
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With the #30 pick, Dallas selected Koa Peat, Adam Silver said goodnight and that was that. Except it wasn’t. As the first round of the Draft was concluding, rumors started buzzing that the Mavericks were in fact making a move. Details are still being confirmed, but as it stands, Dallas will be trading the #30 pick Koa Peat and two future second-round draft picks to the New York Knicks in exchange for Sergio DeLarrea’s services. The exact second-rounders were still being determined late Tuesday night.
Here are the details we have at this time:
Los Angeles Lakers Received: 24th Overall Pick (Cameron Carr, Baylor)
Dallas Mavericks Received: 25th Overall (Sergio de Larrea, Spain)
Phoenix Suns Received: 30th Overall (Koa Peat, Arizona)
New York Knicks Received: Cash (Lakers), two second-round picks (Mavericks), and three more second-round picks (Suns)
DeLarrea was on the radar of a number of Mavs Moneyball staffers, perhaps none more than Tyler Edsel who wrote an excellent crash course on him and what he can bring to the Mavs. To be clear, it is unlikely he is going to have a massive day-one impact on the team, but the Mavericks really needed to do something to acquire more young talent that fit a position of need. While he may not be as flashy a name as Brayden Burries (whom the Mavs skipped over in favor of Morez) or Labaron Philon, Jr. (who somewhat surprisingly slipped to #22), Dallas really needed to do bolster the guard position and they came through.
If DeLarrea’s shooting transfers to the NBA level, it would be a big boon for a team that struggled from downtown much of last season. While not an immediate impact player, Dallas did well to move up a bit in a low-cost move that keeps all of their other assets intact for what will surely be a summer of retooling via trades and free agency.
Stay tuned for updates, as it is unclear which second-round picks the Mavericks will let go of in this deal.
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What Drake London’s new deal could mean for George Pickens
Falcons WR Drake London is now the NFL’s third-highest paid wide receiver in AAV, signing a four-year, $141 million extension with $100 million guaranteed and $35.26 million per year.
London, who is 25, is the same age as Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens, and both are heading into their fifth seasons in the NFL. Pickens too was seeking a long-term contract, but the Cowboys told him and his representation that would not happen this offseason, and he instead signed his $27.3 million franchise tag that keep shim under contract for the 2026 season.
Pickens’ one-year deal on the tag makes him the 17th highest-paid wide receiver in the league in AAV. Should Pickens go out and post a year similar to his 2025 campaign where he had more than 1,400 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, a deal similar to London’s may be in the ballpark of what Pickens could seek. For reference, CeeDee Lamb is the league’s fifth-highest paid WR at $34 million annually. If Pickens surpasses him and is closer to London’s $35 million per year mark, he and Lamb would become the highest-paid WR duo in NFL history, surpassing the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, who currently combine for $69 million per year. – Tommy Yarrish
The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Garland Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abby Policastro and Marissa Aulbaugh prosecuted the case.
“This verdict should send a clear message to drug dealers that we will dismantle any effort to peddle deadly fentanyl in our community,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “I want to thank our law enforcement partners for their dedicated collaboration in taking thousands of fentanyl pills off the streets of Dallas.”
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