A fan without an NBA home

I hate this. I never wanted to be back here. I even looked the other way a couple of times to try and keep this from happening. And yet, here we are.

I don't know who to root for in the NBA anymore.

I grew up in New Jersey, and my love of sports was born out of season tickets to the New Jersey Nets. I was a basketball junkie, to the point where it was hurting my grades because I played basketball and watched basketball so much that I never made time for homework or studying. My only real interest at the time was playing basketball or watching basketball.

In the spring of 1998, my family moved to San Diego. I immediately fell in love with the San Diego Padres and the San Diego Chargers, and the rest was history, but I never really lost my love of basketball.

I still rooted for the Nets from afar, as they traded for Stephon Marbury and Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. They won the Eastern Conference in back-to-back seasons!

But it was around the time that a Russian oligarch bought the team and initiated plans to move them to Brooklyn, in an entirely different state, that I started losing my love for the team. They no longer represented my home state and they lost the thread tying them to my childhood memories when they completely changed the team's logo, colors and branding.

The straw that broke the camel's back was them hiring Jason Kidd as the team's head coach. By then, I was older, and I understood that the trade that brought him to New Jersey only happened because the Phoenix Suns wanted to get out of the shadow of one or several domestic violence incidents between Kidd and his pregnant wife.

Kidd had also gotten a DUI the year before being names Nets head coach after drunkenly crashing his SUV into a telephone pole, a crime that he got out of by agreeing to speak to local kids about the dangers of drunk driving. I'll leave it there, we don't need to get into the numerous reports about him pouring bottles of champagne on the heads of unsuspecting women at NYC dance clubs...

This was not a man that I wanted representing my favorite team, teaching and developing the young players on the roster. When you hear a number of players tell you that their head coach is a father figure to them, you start feeling differently about who should be allowed to have the position.

So, I gave up on the Nets. I quit my fandom. Or, as I usually prefer to say, my team left me. I remain, to this day, a fan of the New Jersey Nets. That team just doesn't exist anymore. (The same is true of the San Diego Chargers, for whatever that is worth.)

I searched for a new NBA team to root for. I spent a couple seasons trying to make it work with the Clippers and another trying to follow the Philadelphia 76ers from three timezones away. I finally landed on the Dallas Mavericks, the team that my then-girlfriend and now-wife loved with her whole heart. And a team that had just drafted a kid from Spain that already looked like he was going to be the most fun player to watch in the entire league: Luka Doncic.

Somewhat hilariously, the Mavericks hired Jason Kidd to be their head coach three years later. I had to make a decision, and I decided to stay a Mavericks fan. I couldn't run from Kidd forever and I wanted to be along for the entire career of Doncic.

But then Mark Cuban sold the team to Donald Trump's 2nd largest donor.

And then Luka Doncic was traded to the Lakers.

Back to the Chargers for a second...

When the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, I had many people ask me if I was still going to root for the team. The answer that I settled on was that I was going to see what it felt like and go from there. There was no need to rush things.

Not even halfway through their first season away from San Diego, my wife pointed something out to me after a game. She said that I didn't seem to care anymore.

"You used to be so happy after Chargers wins and grumpy if they lost and now you're just the same no matter what happens with them."

And she was right! I didn't care anymore. Either because they no longer represented my hometown or because they had too much baggage after The Great San Diego Stadium Wars, I don't know which.

That's when I knew I wasn't a Chargers fan anymore. That exact moment. It's why I remember her words exactly. I can even tell you which part of my house I was in when the conversation happened.

And that's how I know that I'm not a Mavericks fan anymore.

Outside of keeping up with friendships, I no longer find reason to watch this Mavericks team. I used to be happy or grumpy after a win or loss and I don't care at all anymore.

I've never cared for Jason Kidd and now he's the person who's been there the longest, longer than team ownership and any starter on the team. It's his team.

As much as I enjoy watching him play basketball, I'm still a little squeamish about rooting for Kyrie Irving, who has done and said some of the stupidest shit a professional athlete ever could.

And I've had something against Anthony Davis since he held the New Orleans Pelicans hostage and forced a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, with help from LeBron James and Rich Paul. That franchise did nothing but try for Anthony Davis and in return he stuck a knife in their back.

So, I guess I'm a free agent again. I really do hate that. A huge part of being a fan is being a part of a fanbase. Having friends to chat with about the team, building plans around the games together. Walking away from that often means hurting some friendships, changing ways in which you would socially go through life. It's not easy or fun.

Who's up first?

I supposed my first inclination, with the San Diego Clippers in my backyard, is to check back in with the Clippers. I gave up on them last time because I worked with the radio partner for the team and had at least a handful of negative interactions with players and coaches who aren't there anymore.

This time, I have enough distance from them to give them a better chance. Not to mention, they are a logical choice for a San Diegan looking to pick a new team, even if you want to ignore the existence of the San Diego Clippers.

Their best player is also the best player in San Diego State history in Kawhi Leonard. One of their other best players is Norm Powell, the pride of San Diego's Lincoln High School. And, just to hammer things home, the Clippers are not the type of Los Angeles-based team to turn up their nose at a fanbase that's 100 miles away...

So, here I go. Once more into the fray. If this doesn't feel right, I will probably find myself rooting for Luka Doncic's new team, but I don't want to jump right into that yet.

The Clippers play the Cavaliers tomorrow. The Cavs have been one of the best teams in the league all season, but they've been slumping lately. On the other side, the Clippers are finally healthy and are 8-2 in their last 10 games.

Let's go Clippers?