Mavericks vs. Clippers III: Mavs team broadcaster can ‘reunite’ with James Harden

When it comes to sportscasters and analysts in Dallas-Fort Worth, Brian Dameris may not be a household name but he did drop the single greatest rant in the history of the broadcasts of the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys combined.

With all due respect to the many men and women who have served as analysts for our four major teams here, no one has ever come close to the verbal napalm the Dallas Mavericks team color man dropped this season. It was so full of acidic truth that former WFAA sportscaster Dale Hansen would have done nothing but applaud.

It was so powerful, so potent, and so true the team broadcast had no choice but to run from it.

Because God loves both the NBA and drama, it fits that the Mavs first round playoff series is against the opponent that now includes the player Dameris torched. The Mavs and Clippers playoff series offers a load of Hall of Fame players, and story lines, including a Brian Dameris reunion with Clippers guard James Harden.

This is too good not to re-visit, even if it’s sad how it all played out.

On November 10, 2023 the Mavs played the Clippers in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament. During the pregame show on Bally Sports Southwest, Dameris authored a beautifully brutal, 2-minute dissection of Harden.

Two weeks prior, the Philadelphia 76ers traded Harden to the L..A. Clippers. Harden had made it clear he would not play for the 76ers, and he is now on his fifth NBA roster since he came into the league, in 2009.

Dameris, who is a long time friend of former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban and landed a job with the team in a support role more than 20 years ago, only said what so many NBA people have uttered for a long time about Harden. Dameris didn’t scream, but he was cutting.

Among the many highlights Dameris said: “Listen, James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over again they complained about their bad roommates. ‘This guy’s terrible.’ They never thought to be self-aware enough that they’re the bad roommate; they’re the problem. Hey, James, YOU’RE the problem.

“If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you’re going to go home and start swiping right for another team. There’s not going to be anybody left because James, you’re not The Beard, you’re not the system — you’re the problem.”

All true. Ask Houston. Ask Brooklyn. As Philadelphia.

It was so true the commentary went viral. So true that people who work for the Mavericks saw it and thought, “Uhhh ... that’s not good.”

Although the sports franchises are paid tens to hundreds of millions of dollars by media rights companies, such as Bally Sports, to broadcast their games, it’s the teams that exercise content control. Outside of maybe Boston and New York, the type of commentary offered by Dameris in that clip is never heard on a team broadcast.

According to people familiar with this, Mavs GM Nico Harrison wasn’t exactly crazy about Dameris’ comments. The team, and Bally Sports Southwest, removed the viral clip from their social media accounts and websites, and ... it didn’t matter.

Kids, when you delete something from the Internet it never goes away.

Harden was asked about the comment a few days later by Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and said, “I don’t know exactly what he said, but I pay that (expletive deleted) no mind. ... It’s just people talking. I guarantee that if you put whoever is talking in this situation, it wouldn’t be beneficial for them.”

It’s funny how the players never hear anything, but always know what was said. On the same day Harden said this, Dameris apologized for his Harden “evaluation.”

A month or two after Harden’s arrival with the Clippers was going well, he said, “Obviously (the fit) didn’t start off well. It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way. And now those people that was talking, they’re nowhere to be found. Like literally nowhere to be found.”

Hmmmm ... whom could he be talking about?

Dameris didn’t return a phone call for this column, and he did what any broadcaster had to do in that situation. He’s not dumb. You play ball, and go back to work until you’re done playing ball.

The sad twist to this little drama story line isn’t what Dameris said, it’s that he apologized for telling what is a widely an accepted truth in the NBA.

James Harden is a Hall of Fame talent, and has been a Hall of Fame problem. For many teams.

If he doesn’t like that assessment, maybe he should do something about it.