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The Los Angeles Lakers continue to ride the solid play of LeBron James and recently acquired Luka Doncic in the precursor to what should be one of the most memorable Western Conference playoffs in NBA history. Meanwhile, even minority owner Mark Cuban is complaining that his Dallas Mavericks didn’t get nearly enough last month in return for Doncic in one of the most stunning — and one-sided — trades all-time.
Pittsburgh Pirates all-star pitcher Paul Skenes is one of the most popular players in Major League Baseball. Most of that flows from the work ethic and sterling performance associated with the 22-year-old in his first season in the National League Central last year. The star power of his girlfriend — gymnast and social media influencer Livvy Dunne — doesn’t hurt. It’s little wonder that social media amplification has made his 1/1 Topps rookie debut patch card a veritable phenomenon, driving bids north of $500,000 US in the second day of a two-week auction convened by Fanatics Collect. Those bids will this weekend top his own annual salary of $800,000, but that’s just the beginning.
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It’s just another reflection of the extremely bullish market that surrounds collectibles and signed memorabilia during a week in which Topps also released one of the biggest wrestling cards in collectibles history — a triple-autograph triad of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena and Travis Scott — along with another hot new Shohei Ohtani baseball card.
Yet it was NHL trade deadline day that generated the most radio and television talk and made the biggest headlines in the business of sport north of the border. Deadline day proved once again that the strong tend to get stronger in their final push toward the Stanley Cup playoffs. You could say that winning is an attitude in the most successful franchises in hockey, and all of sports for that matter. It certainly was this week when the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers acquired Brad Marchand at the trade deadline Friday. Also making big splashes were the Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche and — perhaps most notably — the Dallas Stars, Canadian-owned by Vancouver’s Tom Gaglardi.
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The Jets aimed to get deeper, acquiring Brandon Tanev and Luke Schenn for what they hope will be a long playoff run after leading the NHL standings all season. The problem is the Stars might have made the biggest upgrade in the form of Mikko Rantanen, the former Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricane star regarded as a top-10 offensive talent in the NHL. They promptly signed him to an eight-year extension at $12 million per season, boldly declaring that they were “all-in”.
Who won the trade deadline day? We’ll only know for sure in June.
Bears-of-the-Week
The Arizona Coyotes spent their last two seasons in Phoenix playing in a varsity arena with a limited capacity of less than 5,000 fans. Both the franchise and the NHL were ridiculed for how bad the optics were for a major league franchise to play in a college rink. The Coyotes are now the Utah Hockey Club, playing at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City and selling out every night. Yet both the former Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays will be playing at least the coming season in minor league stadiums of less than 10,000 capacity, and the look isn’t much better for Major League Baseball.
Tom Mayenknecht is the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sport business commentator and principal in Emblematica Brand Builders provides a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Mayenknecht at: x.com/TheSportMarket.
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