The challenges facing Eduardo Najera are threefold after his retirement from playing last spring. His new roles include minority ownership of the NBA D-League’s Texas Legends, where the 36-year-old will also be head coach, and an unspecified front-office position with the Dallas Mavericks. The NBA’s first Mexican-born player ever drafted thus became its first Mexican-born coach under its umbrella, too, and with those already on his resume, another milestone he hopes that can be achieved is next: bringing the first NBA franchise to Mexico. If it sounds like a stacked workload, it is, Najera said in a recent interview with Dime. Read More »

That picture of Eduardo Najera is looking a little old right now. Not only is he back in the fold with the Dallas Mavericks, the NBA’s first-ever Mexican born player has traded in the jersey for the suit. There hasn’t been much reason to think about the 36-year-old Najera lately, especially as he finished his 12-year career in dismal Charlotte the last two seasons. Now he gets to step into a very interesting role as head coach and part-owner of the D-League’s Texas Legends and an unspecified role with Dallas GM Donnie Nelson. It sounds pretty cool and with a lot of latitude for one of the league’s “good guys.” He’s not thinking small-ball, though: He wants to ultimately bring a franchise to Mexico. Read More »

In case you missed it on Saturday, check out Josh Smith absolutely destroy Eduardo Najera with the one-hand poster dunk on the break.

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And to think they’re in Utah…

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You kind of saw this coming. Just one day after he became available to be traded in a multiplayer deal, the Bobcats decided to cash in on luxury tax savings by waiving Erick Dampier. What does this mean for Dampier? Other than becoming an unrestricted free agent, his $13 million contract is now void. Read More »

It’s funny how things come full circle. Six years ago, Rod Higgins (who was the GM of the Warriors at the time) signed Erick Dampier to a seven-year, $73 million deal and traded him to the Mavericks. While only one of the guys involved in that deal, Eduardo Najera, is still in the League (the others being Christian Laettner, Luis Flores, Mladen Sekularac, Evan Eschmeyer and Dan Dickau), Dampier finds himself in an interesting position today. And coincidently, Higgins (now the GM of the Bobcats) is once again seeking a trade partner for Dampier. NBA teams in need of salary-cap relief should take note. Read More »

Hours after a seemingly done deal sending Tyson Chandler to Toronto was squashed by Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, Chandler has been dealt again — this time to the Mavericks.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the trade has Chandler and Alexis Ajinca going to Dallas in exchange for Erick Dampier, Matt Carroll and Eduardo Najera.

After the Bobcats acquired Chandler last season in a trade for one-time franchise centerpiece Emeka Okafor, Chandler averaged 6.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. Read More »

Right after the NBA All-Star Break, I wrote a piece about how the Dallas Mavericks had to be considered darkhorse title contenders. And the second half of the season proved they were. From February 17 until the end of the regular season, the Mavs were 23-6, and finally had some swagger that Dallas had long been without. But what happened? After getting bounced by the Spurs, that makes it three out of the last four years that the Mavs have lost in the first round. So where do they go from here? Read More »

All at once, it seemed every allegation of being soft, of having no heart, of choking under the bright lights was coming true for Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks. When the Spurs scored the first seven points of last night’s do-or-die (for Dallas) Game 6, then went ahead 22-8 to end the first quarter, then pushed the lead by 21 in the second quarter while Dirk had four first-half fouls hanging over his head, it looked like it would go down as Dallas’ worst bed-wetting since the ’06 NBA Finals … It was easy to see why the Mavs were getting smoked: Read More »

Would anybody outside of Chicago and Toronto protest too much if we just scratched the 8th seed in the East? It’s not like we want to give LeBron a bye into the second round; it’s just that the Bulls and Raptors are playing like they don’t deserve a playoff spot. Tied in the standings going into Friday, they both blew golden opportunities to get a step ahead of the competition … Absolutely no excuse for Chicago losing to the Nets. Terrence Williams hasn’t played in a meaningful basketball game since he had “Louisville” across his chest, yet he was the best player on the court against a Bulls squad that has everything on the line. Read More »