The jaw-dropping Luka Doncic trade cemented the reality, if it wasn’t already clear, that Mark Cuban has no influence on the Mavericks’ basketball operations.
The former majority owner of the franchise, who still has a minority stake after selling 73 percent to the Adelson family, “urged” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison to not trade the 25-year-old All-NBA guard for Anthony Davis, Marc Stein reported Sunday in his “The Stein Line” Substack newsletter.
But at that point, the deal had already been verbally agreed to, the report said.
Mark Cuban (r.) and Luka Doncic (77) during a Mavericks game in 2022.
Mark Cuban (l.) and Luka Doncic (r.) in 2021.As shocked as the NBA world was by the trade, perhaps no one was more taken aback than Cuban, who, according to Stein, used to privately tell Doncic he wanted the Slovenian superstar to match Dirk Nowitzki’s league record of 21 seasons with one franchise.
So Cuban apparently didn’t share the concerns about Doncic’s commitment and conditioning that Harrison and new Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont — Miriam Adelson’s son-in-law — did as a decision loomed about whether to give Doncic a five-year, $345 million supermax contract extension this summer.
Cuban had been mum on the trade until a Friday night appearance with Bill Gates, who was promoting his book “Source Code” in the Dallas area.
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