The year of 2025 was about as wild a year as it could get in a major sports town.
Given the trades of Luka Doncic and Micah Parsons, the arrivals of No. 1 picks Paige Bueckers and Cooper Flagg, the infamous Mavericks-Stars legal dispute and the tragic death of Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, there was no shortage of top-shelf reading from SportsDay this year.
We covered it all at an extremely high level, so we compiled a collection of 10 of our favorites — from important breaking news to in-depth feature stories — from 2025 (presented in no particular order):
Mavericks fire GM Nico Harrison nine months after Luka Doncic trade
Sports Roundup
A “Fire Nico” mural by artists Juan Velazquez and Armando Aguirre was updated after the Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was fired, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Dallas. The mural was first painted in the aftermath of the Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
“Fire Nico!” then five claps in between, “Fire Nico!”
The chants were as loud and as clear of a directive as they were nine months prior, when fan emotions reached their peak, but last month Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont came to the inevitable decision to heed their call and part ways with Nico Harrison after four seasons, one NBA Finals appearance, a franchise-altering trade and in the midst of Dallas’ abysmal 3-8 start.
Behind the scenes of Micah Parsons’ final days as a Dallas Cowboy
On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 26, Micah Parsons informed the Cowboys he needed to reschedule a treatment session for his ailing back. Parsons told his brother, Terrence Parsons Jr., that the team threatened to fine him if he didn’t attend the session.
That’s when he knew.
Two days later, Parsons was dealt to the Green Bay Packers in a blockbuster move that stunned the NFL and altered the trajectory of the Cowboys’ season days before it kicked off.
Paige Bueckers wants to be the GOAT. To those who know her, that goes beyond stats
Measuring Bueckers against another talented young athlete or reducing her to a statline would obscure the full picture of who she is and diminish the scale of her ambitions.
To family, friends and mentors, Bueckers is more than a great basketball player with big dreams. Confident yet humble, they say she’s as selfless and joyful in life as she is on the court.
Father’s Day doesn’t get any easier for Babe Laufenberg, who lost his son in 2019
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS 11 sports anchor Babe Laufenberg, poses for a photo with archived photos of his sons, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Dallas. Babe Laufenberg lost his 21-year-old son, Luke, to a rare form of cancer on Aug. 22, 2019. He has kept alive his memory of Luke through social media posts and through a foundation connected to Luke’s college football team, UT-El Paso.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
Cowboys radio analyst Babe Laufenberg lost his son Luke after a 20-month battle with Burkitt lymphoma, a rare and highly aggressive cancer that primarily afflicts children.
On Father’s Day this year Laufenberg welcomed The Dallas Morning News into his home and shared his son’s story, his on story of his ongoing grief and Luke’s impact on those in his life. Close friends of the Laufenberg family like former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and then-Cowboys coach Jason Garrett offered testimony for Luke and why they are still in awe at Luke’s fight and positivity.
Our Brad Townsend put together a meaningful, emotional feature story on Laufenberg and his grief as he dealt with his sixth Father’s Day without his son.
An inside look at the dysfunctional Mavericks-Stars relationship in Dallas
A yearlong breakdown in the Mavericks and Stars’ relationship came to a head in October, when Dallas’ NBA franchise filed suit against the city’s NHL team.
The teams have had uneven starts to their 25th seasons as American Airlines Center’s tenant couple, but their struggles on the court and the ice appear benign compared to the behind-the-scenes strife in the organizations’ relationship.
Those who knew Cowboys’ Marshawn Kneeland remember hard worker, infectious smile
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland (94) is seen before an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Landover.
Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer
“He was magnetic with his personality, where he was hard-working and tough, and it was just a fantastic combination of all the right things. Which makes this honestly even more tragic, just because of the person that he was,” said former Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel on Kneeland, who died on Nov. 6 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez has a Heisman campaign, driven by Army pilot wife
Jacob Rodriguez is a senior linebacker at Texas Tech and one of college football’s premier defensive players. Emma Rodriguez is a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and Jacob’s wife and long-distance relationship partner of six years.
A match made in football heaven.
Cooper Flagg’s relentless work ethic, competitive spirit could make him NBA’s next prodigy
Cooper Flagg, right, poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks In the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York.
Adam Hunger / AP
Living life in obscurity is no longer the case for the lanky kid from Newport, Maine who cemented himself as the No. 1 overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft.
Meet Cooper Flagg.
How Rangers broadcaster, wife found purpose through unimaginable grief
Jared and Emily Sandler have lost 10 potential children through miscarriages, unexpected health conditions, failed in vitro fertilization and multiple surrogacy efforts in the last half-decade.
The highs of long-sought career milestones with his hometown franchise, the countless hours required to document it and the continued growth of a million-dollar charity geared toward the aid of children existed simultaneously.
‘I’ve been blessed’: Cowboys’ Jerry Jones shares more details on overcoming Stage 4 cancer
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones poses for photos on the blue carpet for his movie premiere of Netflix’s America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, August 11, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
On its surface, Netflix’s eight-part Dallas Cowboys documentary, while fascinating, contains no major revelations.
It does, though, drop a big hint.
That hint prompted a question from The Dallas Morning News and a candid, newsworthy response from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: He fought Stage 4 melanoma for a decade and an experimental trial drug saved his life.
More of our best from 2025…
— Want to know more about Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer? Start with his five tattoos
— Day in the life of Skip Schumaker shows why new Rangers manager will prove doubters wrong
— Glen Gulutzan’s head coaching return was long overdue. Can he give Stars a needed spark?
— Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas with Lakers only reminded fans of what they’ll miss
— ‘Grateful’ for time in Texas, Bruce Bochy has returned to his baseball home with Giants
— Mikko Rantanen’s heroic Game 7 merits spot on Mount Rushmore of Dallas playoff outings
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