Mac Engel: Mavericks vs. Clippers III: Broadcaster Brian Dameris can 'reunite' with James Harden

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 storyline 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.