When the Dallas Mavericks stunned the basketball world by trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, it was a sign the team had changed the way it does business.
Under Mark Cuban, who remains a minority owner after selling a controlling stake to the Adelson family for $3.5 billion, the Mavericks kept Dirk Nowitzki for 21 seasons. Many expected Dončić to have his own longevity under Cuban.
So when news of the trade broke, it was quickly confirmed that Cuban had no part in it. Now, a month later, Cuban has provided a full reaction to the trade in an interview with WFAA. He’s about as little of a fan of it as you can be while still being in business with the people who did it.
Cuban said he was “of course” upset about the trade, but he didn’t criticize the idea of moving Dončić so much although he was certainly not thrilled with what Dallas general manager Nico Harrison got for Dončić:
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing. Just get a better deal. No disrespect to Anthony Davis, but I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected No. 1s and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”
The full Dončić return was star big man Anthony Davis, bench guard Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick from the Lakers. Davis got hurt in his Mavericks debut and is still out, while Christie has been a pleasant surprise, with 12.9 points per game.
Cuban declined to say whether he would’ve traded Dončić if he were still in charge:
“I’m not going to go there. Doesn’t matter.”
What made fans most upset about the trade was the difference in age between its two biggest assets. At 25 years old at the time of the trade, Dončić was one of the most valuable assets in the sport. Had every team known he was available, someone would likely have outbid the Lakers. Instead, Harrison reportedly called up the Minnesota Timberwolves about Anthony Edwards, then zeroed in on the Lakers.
The result was a trade that went down with no warning, for both the players and the fans. Harrison clearly prioritized secrecy with the dealings, likely with the knowledge that a backlash could have killed a deal he wanted to make. He even reportedly accepted a smaller package from the Lakers because he wouldn’t let them talk to Dončić about a possible extension, as that would’ve tipped off the player.
And so the Mavericks got Davis, who is still a great player at 31 years old, but he is also injury-prone and mightily struggled to lead a team while with the New Orleans Pelicans. It was only with LeBron James that Davis won a championship with the Lakers. Not helping matters was Kyrie Irving tearing his ACL and ripping the last remaining hope out of Dallas’ season.
Dončić and the Lakers, meanwhile, have won eight consecutive games and sit as the No. 2 seed in the West.
Cuban did note the team went through something similar with Steve Nash, who left for the Phoenix Suns in free agency in 2004:
“I went through this before with when Steve Nash left and then won two MVPs. The good news is that we went to the Finals and won a championship. So I’ve been through something — but there wasn’t social media back then, so it wasn’t quite the same. You’re going to make mistakes. I think the biggest challenge the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate. It’s not so much what you do. It’s how you communicate why you do what you do.”
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, the seeds for long-term success aren’t exactly planted. The whole point of the trade was to land a veteran player who could help them win now with Irving, but this season is already lost. They can only hope that Davis and Irving, as well as Klay Thompson, are in prime form next season.
‘Get a better deal’ | Former Mavs majority owner Mark Cuban breaks silence on Luka Doncic trade
DALLAS — When the Dallas Mavericks’ front office traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on the night of Feb. 1, it sent shockwaves through the NBA — and also brought about countless takes and opinions on the decision to move the five-time All-NBA First Team Slovenian guard.
One person many Mavs fans have wanted to hear from since the trade is former majority owner Mark Cuban, who for more than two decades was the singular face on any major move made by the franchise.
While Mark Cuban did give WFAA a brief response after the trade happened, the North Texas businessman hasn’t gone deep on the record with his feelings about the move.
Until now.
Mark Cuban sat down with WFAA’s Jonah Javad on Thursday to discuss a wide range of topics — including, notably, the current state of the Dallas Mavericks, the team he sold his majority stake in just a little over a year ago.
It all started when WFAA asked Mark Cuban who his son’s favorite Mav was.
“It was Luka Doncic,” Cuban said. “But now it’s Max Christie.”
And how did his son react to his favorite player being dealt to the Lakers?
“About like I did,” Cuban said with a laugh.
Cuban has publicly stated since the trade that he had nothing to do with it. He said he’s been out of the loop when it comes to the Mavs’ basketball operations since selling the team to Las Vegas casino magnate Miaram Adelson: “From a basketball perspective, you know, I hear about it after the fact,” he told WFAA on Thursday. “I don’t hear about anything beforehand.”
While Cuban is still a minority owner of the team, his role as the face for the organization has significantly diminished under the Adelsons’ ownership.
“Yeah, there are parts that are not fun, obviously,” he said. “Especially this month, or last month. But, y’know, they paid for that right.”
Cuban told WFAA on Thursday that he remains an MFFL (Mavs Fan For Life) — and he sounded like one when talking about the details of the Doncic trade, particularly when speaking on the paltry return the Mavericks received in exchange for their young superstar.
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing,” Cuban said. “Just get a better deal. I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”
Full interview:
To fans, Dallas’ future is much dimmer these days than it was pre-Luka trade. A team that previously had its sights on a return to the NBA Finals is now scrounging for a shot at the playoffs. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic and the Lakers are on a seven-game win streak and have elevated themselves to the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference standings.
Cuban led the Mavs when the franchise traded for Doncic on the night of the 2018 NBA Draft. Over the course of Doncic’s career, Cuban expressed nothing but certainty about the franchise’s desire to keep Luka a Mav for as long as possible.
So: Would he have traded Doncic?
“I’m not going to go there,” Cuban said when asked just that. “It doesn’t even matter.”
During Thursday’s interview, Cuban cited two reasons for selling his majority stake in the team: his kids and the Adelson family’s assets.
“I didn’t want my kids to end up in this exact position, at some level, if they made a mistake,” Cuban said. “Imagine if I didn’t [sell], and my kids had taken over and they made a mistake like this.”
Cuban said social media has changed the landscape when it comes to owning professional sports franchises. When he bought the Mavs from Ross Perot Jr. in 2000, social media was practically non-existent.
“To log in and scroll through your feed and just see what we’re seeing now, seeing what happens with the Jones family continuously, I didn’t want my kids to go through that,” Cuban said.
He also noted that the Adelson family is more equipped to handle hurdles that will arise in the Mavericks’ near future. Chief among those? The aging American Airlines Center. Eventually, Cuban acknowledged, the franchise will need to decide whether to renovate the AAC or build a new arena.
If they go the new arena route, the Adelson camp has extensive real estate experience, Cuban noted.
“Patrick [Dumont] and the Sands Corporation… they’re better suited to deal with building than I am,” the former Mavs majority owner said. “I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I couldn’t compete because I didn’t know how to do that stuff.”
In some ways, the Adelsons’ experience on this front is already showing up: The Las Vegas Sands Corp. purchased a 259-acre plot of land in Irving in 2023 and, just last week, the Irving City Council considered rezoning that land to make the development of destination resorts, and possibly even casino gaming, legal for that parcel.
Cuban also acknowledged on Thursday the notion that his absence has left a hole within the front office that the Mavericks have yet to fill.
“I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate,” Cuban said. “It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you communicate why you do what you do — and that’s their challenge without me in front.”
Cuban doesn’t chalk that up to the current Mavs brass’ inexperience with NBA ownership and fan interaction, however.
“I think it’s just not their nature,” he said, before letting out a chuckle. “They’re just not me. You can’t expect them to be me.”
Still, Cuban noted that there is a difference between running a successful business and running a successful basketball team.
“Texas Instruments has a record quarter, nobody throws a parade,” Cuban said. “When you win, if fans are passionate enough to show up in 100-degree weather and line the streets, then you’ve got to expect, when things don’t go the way they want, they’re going to be just as passionate in response.”
While many fans have completely turned on Mavericks’ ownership and management, Cuban expressed faith in the Adelson camp to turn things around. To back up his stance, he called on his own experience with a major basketball decision that Dallas fans also once protested.
“I went through this before when Steve Nash left,” Cuban said, referring to the Mavericks’ controversial move with the future two-time MVP in 2004.
Nash, the team’s star point guard at the time, left Dallas in free agency for Phoenix after the Mavs failed to offer him a max contract. That move was swiftly met with the ire of the fan base. But in sports, winning — not time — heals all wounds.
“The good news is then we went to the Finals and won a championship,” Cuban said.
Sure, that championship didn’t come for seven years, but when it did, nobody was thinking about the Nash trade.
That said, when the Nash deal was made, the Mavericks were betting on young talent — specifically Dirk Nowitzki. Today, the Mavs are the 8th oldest team in the league by average age and lack any standout rising stars.
Even so, Cuban said he still has faith in the future of the team, and he believes the new ownership group will find a way to mend fences with the fanbase.
“It’ll take longer now,” Cuban said. “But it’ll be OK.”
WFAA will have more coverage related to Mark Cuban and his Cost Plus Drugs company in the near future. Stay up to date with WFAA for more on these upcoming stories.
