Like many others apparently, I failed to embrace the festivity and red carpet gravity of the NBA awards show this week.
But I get it. It’s summer, and TNT needed something for its Monday night lineup. In this case, NBA meant Nothing Better (on TV) Available.
I did catch the highlights, though. And once again, that meant a televised glimpse of Luka Doncic’s mom, who is, like, no older than 29, right? Never mind the math.
What came across as a sharper moment of clarity, however, was when the Mavericks star rose to accept his Rookie of the Year award and we saw the other female in Luka’s life, his blonde girlfriend, who we assume was out at that late hour only with her mother’s permission.
Kids.
It was a stark and ultimately pleasant reminder that Doncic is only 20 years old. Which means that, if fate is kind, Luka will still be entertaining Dallas Mavericks fans until the year 2034 or so.
Fast-forward to Thursday and the eager push locally to vote the Rangers’ Joey Gallo to the American League All-Star lineup. He didn’t make it, but he’s having a breakthrough, all-star season – at age 25.
Unless Scott Boras intervenes, Gallo should still be launching home runs in the new ballpark well into the next decade.
Toss in the week’s other news item, the ongoing conjecture over when the Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott will get his merited contract extension, and the trifecta was complete. Zeke, you see, is 23.
Luka, 20. Gallo, 25. Zeke, 23.
Does any big-league sports city in America have as auspicious a threesome in its three major sports as Dallas/Fort Worth has?
An exhaustive, admittedly subjective search says no. I scoured the names and established the criteria:
By “young,” the player had to be 25 or less. Each city had to field teams in the NFL, NBA and MLB – all three.
Lastly, I make no attempt at a ranking, but rather only seek to make the original point, that DFW teams enjoy the collective best three youthful cornerstones in pro sports.
New York doesn’t, for openers. The Yankees’ Aaron Judge is 27, too elderly for this discussion.
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, 24 years young, is having an outstanding rookie season – 27 home runs, 61 RBIs – and the NFL Giants have Saquon Barkley, who is only 22.
But who’s the bright young star of the NBA Knicks?
Oh, wait. They traded him last season to the Mavericks.
Boston, on another hand, has plenty of pennants and young stars, but Mookie Betts and soon-to-be-leaving Kyrie Irving are both 26. That leaves the Red Sox’s Rafael Devers (22) and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (20).
But who at that age is better than Zeke on the NFL Patriots? No one, so Boston is eliminated from this challenge as well.
For Google Maps purposes, I gave Los Angeles the benefit of including Anaheim and the great Mike Trout. Except Trout is 27. And the new Laker, Anthony Davis, is 26.
That leaves the City of Angels with Kyle Kuzma (23) and Jared Goff (24) and the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (23). A formidable young trio.
But Zeke is better than Goff, and Luka outshines Kuzma. So, nope, DFW again has the better threesome.
One by one, other cities’ threes also don’t measure up.
Baltimore: No NBA team.
Pittsburgh: Josh Bell is 26.
Cleveland: Interesting, because although Odell Beckham Jr. is 26, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is 24. Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor is 25.
But for now, there is no Cavalier 25 or younger who can match what Doncic has done. So no Cleveland.
Kansas City: The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is already a star, but KC has no NBA team. So sound the gong, Johnny.
Houston: The Astros’ Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa both meet the age criteria, but who’s better than Elliott on the Texans?
Deshaun Watson? Uh, no.
Denver: Nolan Arenado is 28. Von Miller is 30. The Nuggets may have the NBA’s overall best young team, led by 23-year-old Nikola Jokic.
Young pitcher German Marquez of the Rockies is having a nice season at 24, but the bigger chips would be wiser on slugger Gallo.
Philadelphia: The 76ers’ Joel Embiid (24) and Ben Simmons (22) qualify, but Bryce Harper is 26 and Carson Wentz are both 26. Plus, Gallo is having a better season than his Vegas childhood buddy Harper.
Chicago: The Cubs are older than you think. The South Side rival White Sox have a deeper nucleus of rising 25-and-under stars, like third baseman Yoan Moncada and pitcher Lucas Giolito.
But there’s no Chicago Bull – Zach LaVine? – who compares to Doncic.
New Orleans: Alvin Kamara and Zion Williamson, but no baseball team.
Milwaukee: The Bucks have the NBA’s MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo (24), but Christian Yelich is 27 and the Packers don’t have anyone in the same category as Zeke.
Minneapolis: The best 25-and-unders I could come up with were Stefon Diggs, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jose Barrios. Good, but not exactly Doncic, Elliott and Gallo.
And lastly, perhaps the most formidable challenger to the threesome that DFW fans get to watch:
Phoenix.
The Suns have Deandre Ayton (20), the Diamondbacks have All-Star 3B starter Ketel Marte (25), and the NFL Cardinals have rookie-to-be Kyler Murray, who is 21.
It’s a fun three. But while Elliott could lead his team to the Super Bowl this season, who knows what Murray will turn out to be?
Admittedly, my criteria for this discussion were purely subjective. You could say the same, I suppose, for any argument about sports.
Feel free, therefore, to play this same Luka-Zeke-Gallo game among yourselves.
I like our DFW threesome, now and into the future.