Such a time existed in human history when significant misfortune was considered punishment for unknown crimes, evidence of the accursed.

Pity was tempered by accusatory wonder. What did they do? How’d they put themselves in this situation?

In some ways, the practice lives on in modernity. In the judgment aimed at sufferers. In the interrogation of victims. Certainly, it prevails in sports, where blaming is a sport within the games.

But empathy must reign. Mercy is medicine. Shared experiences should produce rapport and understanding. So in that regard — and with all the heart and love the legendary Robin Williams mustered as Sean Maguire in “Good Will Hunting” — a message for Dallas Mavericks fans.

It’s not your fault.

It’s not your fault.

It’s not your fault.

No fan base deserves the bludgeoning Mavs faithful are enduring. Heartbreak is part of the game. It’s what gives sports its texture. The ever-presence of despair and jubilee. How the trauma informs the triumph.

But this is too much aimed at Dallas. Sure, Mavericks fans can be a bit much sometimes. But no more than every other annoying legion. That’s just the state of modern fanaticism.

It absolutely doesn’t warrant what Mavericks fans have suffered. Their last superstar. The lone hope for salvaging this disaster of a season. The remaining valve keeping their hearts connected to their chest. Tears his ACL.

Kyrie Irving is done for the year. The Mavs are done for a long time. This is too much for one fan base to bear.

The NBA needs a national day of mourning on behalf of Mavericks fans. Basketball lovers across the league should stand in unison with Dallas. At least be delicate and patient. Mavs loyalists need grace.

Please don’t let the tint of humor disguise the genuine stun being expressed. This is objectively incomprehensible.

The suddenness of it all makes it so breathtaking. Certainly, elongated futility is its own kind of suffering. Chicago Cubs fans perhaps own the title for that version of fan persecution. But what the Mavs have endured, in the span of a month, feels so unprecedented. They’ve gone from the NBA Finals nine months ago, on the porch of glory, to beaten down.

And sorry, Mavs fans, for re-living this epic run of gut punches. But this kind of torture must be laid out to fully comprehend its breadth and scope.

Dallas fans had their hearts yanked from their chest with the trading away of Luka Dončić, seemingly all because Dallas general manager Nico Harrison couldn’t convince Luka to complete a P90X video or whatever.

It’s devastating to lose the star of your franchise. Even more so when it happens under the cover of darkness in some faux Ocean’s Eleven plot in the name of saving future money.

Just brutal.

That alone is enough. But the universe is relentless in its continued punishment of Mavericks fans, as if Harrison fractured some form of space-time continuum with his move.

A week after getting blindsided by the Luka trade, fans got a glimpse of Harrison’s logic. Anthony Davis looked good in his Dallas debut. He’s a legitimate force, a player who could possibly make this jarring shift in reality digestible. But then the core piece of Harrison’s master plan lasted all of 31 minutes before getting hurt.

Yes, Davis has a history of injury, which made the trade especially risky. It’s poetic injustice to trade Luka because he might get hurt for a guy nicknamed Street Clothes due to his legacy of injury. But the truth is, Davis had kind of shaken that label.

Take it easy on Mavericks fans. It’s been a month. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

The last time he missed any significant stretch of games was the 2022-23 season, when a right foot injury knocked him out for 20 games. Since he returned from that, in January 2023, the Lakers played 182 games including playoffs before trading him. Davis played in 93.4 percent of those games.

Davis turned into a 1980s big man out of nowhere. Then he gets to Dallas and lasts 31 minutes??? C’mon, man.

Do not bother wondering what Mavericks fans did to warrant this form of devastation. Their affliction is not a symbol of their inadequacy. They don’t deserve this. This is the cruelty of the universe randomly landing on their heads.

They’ve lost both backup centers and are again relying on Dwight Powell to hold down the middle — a classic refrain for longtime Mavs fans. P.J. Washington, one of their gamers, is also down. And Klay Thompson, Dallas’ key acquisition this offseason, really needed the attention Dončić or Davis command to be at his best.

And still, Mavericks fans had a glimmer of a reason to hang in there. The NBA Play-In tournament gave them a reprieve. They could get healthy, win a game or two, and go on a run. At least have some fight.

Mavs fans deserved that. Something to get behind. An underdog card to play. A reason to rally. Especially after learning season-ticket prices were going up 8.6 percent next season, a twisting of the knife by the franchise that started this agony.

And now, remarkably, as if Jordan Peele has hijacked the script for Dallas’ season, Kyrie is done. A casualty of this plague on the Mavericks. And at this juncture of the season, it means his injury will bleed into next season.

This isn’t exclusively pity. It’s also solidarity. A bearing of witness to what’s been done to your beloved team. An acknowledgment of the blatant assault on your passion. A willingness to just sit with you in these brutal times, when words won’t do justice.

Unfortunately, your unwarranted persecution might not be over. It’s looking like you will have the misfortune of your team missing the playoffs, or being compromised in them, while Luka does for the Lakers what he should be doing for your Mavericks. Delivering hope. It cannot feel good watching your hated Lakers surge up the standings.

Here is to hoping Davis returns and dominates. Jaden Hardy finds a new level. Thompson gets hot for two months. Give you reason to cheer.

Or maybe not. So as not to misconstrue this as acceptable, maybe the best thing is for it to completely crumble. To lean into the anger. Take the wrench. The vengeance of your worthy fan base is so justified.

It’s not your fault.

GO DEEPER

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(Top photo of Mavericks fans protesting the Luka Dončić trade last month: Tim Heitman / Getty Images)