Former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban was stung by the lack of advance warning he had on the Luka Doncic blockbuster and tried to talk general manager Nico Harrison out of making the deal with the Lakers, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack article.
Cuban had privately told Doncic that he wanted him to be the organization for as long as Dirk Nowitzki’s NBA-record 21 seasons with one team, according to Stein. However, by the time Cuban tried to convince Harrison and current majority owner Patrick Dumont to retain Doncic, the deal with the Lakers had already been verbally agreed upon.
It was an example of Cuban’s reduced role in the organization, despite the belief that he’d continue retain oversight of basketball operations when he sold his majority share.
Here’s more from Stein:
- Harrison was indeed the driving force behind the trade. He increasingly believed since last season’s NBA Finals that Doncic would not improve his commitment to conditioning or his off-court dietary discipline, not would he improve as a leader or culture-setter. Harrison also felt Doncic would continue to struggle to stay healthy and was weary of the star’s constant battles with game officials.
- Harrison’s fondness for Anthony Davis within the organization was well-known but it was speculated that he’d try to pair Davis with Doncic, rather than swap the two stars for each other. The GM also believes Davis remains one of the league’s top 10 players.
- Harrison did not show up at the arena for Davis’ Mavs debut on Saturday due to security concerns. There has been a major fan backlash since the deal became public. Dumont also did not attend.
Dallas is done. Cuban needs to buy a new franchise. Pirates?
If Cuban wanted a seat at the decision table, he should have never sold his majority to ghouls like the Adelsons.
Is that who owns them now? I had no idea…some of the worst humans that have ever existed.
Yep. Sheldon Adelson’s wife at the time of his death (Miriam Adelson) and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont. In case anyone was wondering why Mavs ownership is suddenly awful.
Don’t worry, DFW will be awash w/ casinos. It’ll be alright.
Dallas A’s. Oakland Mavericks. Both end up in Las Vegas due to a disgusting soulless ghoul of an owner.
Only owner in Vegas will be Bron and his group.
Magic a close second.
Only one criticism I see. Considering they get 26yr old star in LA. Should have been easy to get another pick. That gets me some. Also makes me wonder if NBA was not involved in this.
This has far more reasons to be vetoed than the CP3 to Lakers trade…
Luka not just any old All Star… And swapping any generational talent like that for an past their prime street clothes player is just a sign of “let’s put bums in seats and pay less for the product” as they can get out paying AD earlier and go to selling tanking hope than they would of with Luka…
not showing up for security concerns. there is so much to unpack with that statement.
America.
Cuban should have held on to majority ownership. If he sells low will it devalue the franchise? I bet Harrison was chomping at the bit to unload Luka… it’s time to bail on these new owners.
His shares remaining are probably worth a lot less. I saw some estimates the franchise had lost at least 500M in total value trading him. If it goes really south and they completely fall apart it could fall even more.
Cuban might have loved Luka, but he was not a great owner by any means. He was gifted that championship with inherited players (except he lost Nash for nothing), and, after it, he managed the team worst passive/agressive way and they predictably wallowed until Luka. Drafting Luka was Nelson’s brainchild, and Cuban proceeded to fire him, and install Harrison. Dumont is the Governor that approved Nico’s trade, but Cuban hired Nico. Took two to get this result.
Luka was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, don’t make stuff up.
LOL. Shush, and go to work, including learning how NBA draft trades work. ATL drafted for DAL after their trade swaping the picks.
And Luca wasn’t Nelson’s brainchild. Sacramento gifted him the moment they passed on him.
Mark from Cuba was a terrible owner who based the whole franchise around his ego…
Unfortunately for Mavs fans he was a decent human being compared to their new owners…
Taco is that you? A little taco corp!
Best character on that show!!!!
To the cloud
Its too bad Lajoi hasnt done much other than comedy and songwriting for films since then.
He had a great live act before that…
I kinda get the feeling he’s happier in the background now that he has made some coin…
Yeah and he is still doing his comedy songs and stuff. He was never really an actor outside that show really. Raffi was pretty hilarious too. “Some things you cant unsee bro”
Raffi was great… “want a pocket dog?”
He’ll be on the next series of Taskmaster… That is going to be utter chaos…
Yeah Jason Matzousaikas is funny in everything
Cuban ego must be massive to think they would still listen to him after selling majority. You got no voice now man, maybe still viewed as a face of the team to casuals but means nothing.
The Celtics are trying to have the same thing themselves but it wont happen. Nobody that buys the majority of a team for that much money will ever let you continue to be governor. The only time I can think of a minority owner as the voting owner is Wolfe with the A’s where Fisher is the D bag owning the team the whole time but he used Wolfe as his patsy while he mined the team for revenue sharing dollars and invested never.
Called it …… AD now out a month. Street clothes.
Cuban sold his majority position…Sorry (current owner to Cuban) we’ll take your memo, but we now make the calls. See ya!
Mark from Cuba bent the knee and now wishes to complain…
Going to be a very common problem for those that bent the knee to the wannabe prince as well…
Let’s hope the security concerns keep Harrison and Dumont out of the arena for a very very very long time!!!
They think Kyrie is going to be the leader of the franchise ??? Lol. That guy disappears when he wants to. And AD is never on the floor. The GM will keep his job because the owners want a winning team, but also a dumbass to be the GM at the same time to take the fall for them if they fail. This is a bad mix and will never win anything.
Time to sell that minority stake while it’s still worth something.
Did players have to pass physicals anymore?