The Dallas Mavericks are competing against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the NBA playoffs, but a travel company reminded them of a pretty good consolation prize if they suffer an early postseason exit.
Skyscanner, a global travel comparison app, used prominent ad space outside of Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles to troll the Mavericks ahead of Wednesday night's Game 5. The sign reads "Dallas to Cancun," referencing a meme in the NBA community about players going on vacation after they are eliminated from the playoffs.
Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Van Exel created the much-memed rallying cry "One, two, three ... Cancun!" in 1998 with his team on the verge of getting swept by the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference finals. Instead of breaking a pregame huddle with "One, two, three ... Lakers," Van Exel went off-script and provided an enduring phrase.
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The Lakers went on to lose Game 4 at home in what turned out to be his final game in purple and gold, as he was traded to the Denver Nuggets in the ensuing offseason. A Los Angeles Times report came out soon after saying that star center Shaquille O'Neal went to Lakers management and got a vow from team executive Jerry West that Van Exel would be gone with the implication that the "Cancun" remark was a key factor.
O'Neal has since kept "One, two, three ... Cancun!" going on TNT's "Inside the NBA." This past week, fellow analyst Charles Barkley riffed on the phrase following the New Orleans Pelicans' blowout Game 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, suggesting the team go to Galveston, Texas, instead of the Mexican vacation destination.
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"We’ve always thought the Cancun meme was super fun. So what better way to bring some attention to Skyscanner than to have some fun with a giant billboard outside one of the NBA’s most famous arenas celebrating travel and cheap flights to Cancun," Andre Le Masurier, Skyscanner's global head of brand, said. "Win or lose, Mexico’s always a great spot to recharge the batteries."
Before any Mavericks or Clippers players get on a flight for vacation, the two teams will fly back to Dallas for Game 6 on Friday. That potential elimination game will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. CT.
Should the Mavericks and Clippers split the next two contests, Game 7 will be played at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday. The winner of the series will make their next stop in Oklahoma City for the start of a second-round series against the top-seeded Thunder.
