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."
"Get a better deal"
— WFAA (@wfaa) March 7, 2025
Former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is breaking his silence on the Luka Doncic trade. Here's what he had to say. @JonahJavad
INTERVIEW: https://t.co/Isu7dAgtqY pic.twitter.com/l4X6jV7eOy
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."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mark Cuban Shares His Biggest Gripe With Mavericks' Luka Doncic Trade.
