The aftershocks of the Luka Dončić trade are still being felt, primarily on the Dallas Mavericks side of things. With every elite performance Dončić puts up with the Los Angeles Lakers, Mavericks fans can only sit and watch still astonished by the fact that their front office traded away a 26-year-old superstar for a return that’s already looking like spoiled goods. Between the injuries that have ravaged the Mavericks roster, and every public comment general manager Nico Harrison and new team owner Patrick Dumont make, there’s been no reprieve for Mavericks fans, who are the ones to feel most sorry for in this situation.
Even with nearly two months gone since the stunning blockbuster, no logical explanation can be given to justify the Mavericks trading Dončić for the much older — and far more injury prone — Anthony Davis (and Max Christie and one future first-round draft pick). It didn’t make sense the night the trade news broke, and it makes even less sense now. The Lakers have since risen through the ranks of the Western Conference because of Dončić’s brilliance, while the Mavericks have been hit bad injury luck and are on the verge of missing the postseason entirely just nine months after making the NBA Finals. It’s the quickest drop-off in the NBA in recent memory, one that’s probably going to take a long time to come back from.
Everyone on the outside of this situation is still confused about this trade, including the former majority owner of the Mavericks. Mark Cuban (now a Dallas minority owner) spoke about the trade on the “Your Mom’s House” podcast in which he basically said the trade would’ve never happened had he still been the one making the decisions.
“If I had any influence…” Cuban trails off before saying that he no longer has control over basketball operations, which is pretty obvious given the current state of the Mavericks. He said that he’s hasn’t “for a while,” suggesting that despite being a minority owner in the team still, his voice carries no weight under new ownership.
“The majority owner, Patrick Dumont decided that he was comfortable with Nico Harrison, which is his choice,” Cuban said. “You can’t totally argue with him because we went to the Finals, but yeah it was his choice and he made his choice. I’m just a fan now. When I originally sold the team, that’s what was supposed to happen, and initially it was. And then over time it was ‘OK in Nico we trust,’ so here we are.”
Cuban then described the moment he found out about the trade while at a conference in Florida.
“I get a text, and it was from our general manager [Harrison], and I thought he was asking me what I thought,” Cuban said. “Then I realized very quickly he was telling me what happened. I told him I didn’t agree with it, various reasons, but it wasn’t my decision to make.”
When Cuban initially sold his majority stake, there were reports that surfaced saying he would retain control of basketball decisions, however, when the Mavericks put out the official press release announcing the sale with a statement from Dumont, there was no mention of that. The Dončić trade was the clearest sign that Cuban was no longer in charge.
“I was just as dumbfounded as everybody else,” Cuban said. “…It’s just brutal, it’s painful not matter how you look at it. It’s like talking about a pet dying, I’m in mourning kind of, still. But they paid me to buy the circus, so I just look at my bank account and feel better.”
As much as Cuban wants to explain the situation in a manner of “don’t look at me, I didn’t do it,” several of his decisions as former majority owner led to Dončić getting traded. He hired Harrison to be the team’s general manager. He also decided to sell his majority stake to Dumont and Miriam Adelson, reportedly in hopes of getting deeper pockets to help build a new arena for the Mavericks that will also house a casino (if gambling ever gets legalized in the state of Texas).
So as much as Cuban wants to feel betrayed in this situation, or like he had no hand in getting the Mavericks to where they are now, he certainly did, intentionally or not. The difference between him and Mavericks fans who are still shellshocked that Dončić no longer plays for their team, is Cuban got $3.5 billion for his troubles. So while he’s laughing to the bank, the fans of the team that has a statue of Dirk Nowitzki outside its arena with the words “Loyalty never fades away” inscribed on it, are left questioning if the Mavericks are a team worth rooting for anymore.
