With the 2025 NBA Playoffs underway, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta took a break from postseason action to celebrate another local success story-the University of Houston Cougars.
As chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents since 2009, Fertitta hosted an on-campus event honoring the Cougars men’s basketball team for their run to the national championship game.
But the spotlight wasn’t solely on Houston’s college hoops. Fertitta, who also has ties to the White House as a possible nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Italy, couldn’t help but take a playful swipe at a familiar rival-the Dallas Mavericks.
Fertitta’s shade highlights NBA’s most controversial trade
Speaking to a crowd at the celebration, Fertitta shared details of a recent visit to the Oval Office, where he met with President Donald Trump and the Prime Minister of Italy.
According to Fertitta, basketball even made it into the high-level political conversation.
“I was in the White House, in the Oval Office, and we talked about the Houston Cougars for at least a minute and a half,” he said.
“And then we talked about that dumba** Luka Doncic trade.”
The trade, which saw the Dallas Mavericks deal Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, has sparked intense criticism across the league. Despite Davis’ All-Star credentials, the Mavericks stumbled to a 10th-place finish in the Western Conference and bowed out early in the Play-In Tournament.
Meanwhile, Doncic is now paired with LeBron James in L.A., helping the Lakers to a strong playoff push as the No. 3 seed.
The reaction to the trade has been blistering. An anonymous NBA player poll compared the deal to historic shocks-calling it unforgettable, even likening it to global news moments.
For Fertitta, whose Rockets are currently competing in the first round of the playoffs against Golden State, the jab at Dallas was as much about local bragging rights as it was about basketball insight. And in Texas, when your rival hands you material like this, you don’t let it go to waste.
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