Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made headlines last night when he vowed that the "Bank of Cuban" would be open as the trade deadline approaches. Cuban has already declared recently that he was "100%" certain the Mavs would make a deal in the coming weeks. Shawn Marion and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle were among those to react to Cuban's comments today. Here's what they had to say:
- Marion would like to finish his career with the Mavericks, but if he's traded as part of the team's rebuilding efforts, he'd prefer to go to a contender, as he tells Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. "Right now, you’re not playing to be a (expletive) all-star, after 15 years in the league," Marion said. "You’re playing to win a championship."
- Carlisle is aware that trade rumors will begin to circulate more frequently over the next few weeks, but doesn't expect his team to be distracted by them: "I think our guys are going to play. I don’t think they’re going to be affected by any potential rumors or any present rumors. There’s really nothing going on right now that I can surmise."
- Carlisle added that the team's aggressiveness on the trade market is nothing new, and that he'd be more surprised if the so-called "Bank of Cuban" was closed: "I know we’re aggressive. I know we’re on the phone a lot. I know we’re going to make deals that are the right deals to rebuild this thing the way we want to rebuild it, and not just for the sake of doing it."
- We passed along a pair of Mavericks links, including Dirk Nowitzki's reaction to Cuban's comments, earlier this afternoon.