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.
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Mark Cuban Shares His Biggest Gripe With Mavericks’ Luka Doncic Trade
For 24 years, Mark Cuban was one of the most recognizable owners in sports. After selling off his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont family, the outspoken Cuban is on the outside looking in of team affairs, which was made clear by February’s stunning trade of Luka Doncic.
Cuban did not have much advanced notice of the deal, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, and was too late when he urged general manager Nico Harrison to back out of the deal. The trade also made clear that Cuban no longer manages the team’s basketball operations, something that had been reported around the time of the sale.
In some of his most detailed comments since the trade, Cuban told WFAA that he was “upset” by the trade. His biggest issue: the return that Doncic fetched.
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing. Just get a better deal,” Cuban said. “No disrespect to Anthony Davis, but I still firmly believe, if we had gotten four unprotected number [first-round draft picks] and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”
When asked directly whether he ever would’ve traded Doncic, he did not want to entertain the hypothetical.
“I’m not going to go there. It doesn’t even matter.”
Cuban’s most interesting takeaway may be with the franchise’s struggles to articulate the move under its new ownership.
“You’re going to make mistakes. I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate. It’s not so much what you do, but how you communicate what you do what you do.”
Dan Lyons is a staff writer and editor on Sports Illustrated’s Breaking and Trending News team. He joined SI for his second stint in November 2024 after a stint as a senior college football writer at Athlon Sports, and a previous run with SI spanning multiple years as a writer and editor. Outside of sports, you can find Dan at an indie concert venue or movie theater.
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