While Luka Doncic debuted Monday night with the Los Angeles Lakers to great fanfare, someone in Dallas was inconsolable over the departure of their star player. That someone, of course, is the biggest fan and former owner of the Mavericks, businessman Mark Cuban.
The trade that sent Doncic from Dallas to Los Angeles and Anthony Davis from the Lakers to the Mavericks blindsided everyone, including Cuban. The famous businessman owned the Mavs from 2000 to 2023 and was the one who signed Doncic in 2018, hoping to turn him into the next Dirk Nowitzki.
Sources close to Cuban say that he saw in Doncic a generational talent that would bring the team great satisfaction for at least the next decade. Instead, the current Mavericks brass decided to trade him, despite Cuban’s efforts to retain him.
Cuban is no longer the boss in Dallas
Although Cuban still has a minority stake in the team, even he couldn’t block new majority shareholder Patrick Dumont and general manager Nico Harrison’s plans to trade Doncic. Press reports claim that Cuban tried to stop the transaction at all costs, but without success.
Substack insider Marc Stein stated, “By the time Cuban found out about the Luka-for-AD trade, it was too late.” He explained that Dumont never consulted Cuban, and when Cuban reached out to Harrison to try to prevent the trade, he found that “the deal was already sealed with the Lakers with a verbal handshake.”
After the trade, Dumont tried to placate the critics by assuring them that the trade was not due to a lack of talent in Doncic, but rather a change in the “culture” of the team. However, the explanation left no one satisfied, least of all Mark Cuban.
Mark Cuban’s disappointment
At an event with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Cuban spoke about the exchange. “I’ve had a rough week,” he admitted. “If, after leaving Microsoft, you found out that Steve Ballmer swapped Windows 11, the new OS of the moment, for Windows 10, the Hall of Fame OS, but older, what would you do?“
Gates responded by saying, “I’d hide from the press,” and Cuban agreed by saying, “I know a couple of people that are in that situation,” referring to Dumont and Harrison.
Regardless of Cuban’s opinion, the deal is already done. The Lakers have a generational talent, while the Mavericks will have to hurry to capitalize on the gas left in AD’s tank and get a championship that justifies the controversial deal.
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