It has officially been one year since the infamous, stunning trade that sent Luka Doncic from the Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.
As basketball fans take a look back at the deal a year later and look at where it left the Mavericks, longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein published a lengthy story on his Substack page still trying to make sense of the deal. Stein spoke to Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban for the story and Cuban was very frank about his thoughts on the Doncic trade.
“It was a mistake and I wish they would have spoken to me first,” Cuban said. “I’m happy for Luka. And I’m happy for Mavs fans that we’ve got [Cooper Flagg], even though I recognize that we all still miss Luka.
“The people responsible for that [deal] are for the most part gone, which I think was necessary.”
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Of course, the main person he’s referring to at the end of the quote is former general manager Nico Harrison, who traded Doncic, faced immense backlash for the deal and was ultimately fired just nine months after making the stunning deal.
Cuban said he was at a conference in Florida when he received a text from Harrison asking that he call him immediately.
“His words were: ‘Of all the calls, this one was the hardest to make MC,’” Cuban said. “And that’s when I said: ‘Wait. So you’re saying it’s done?’ And the rest is history.”
The reason Harrison was able to swing the deal without Cuban’s blessing was he got the signoff from new majority owner Patrick Dumont. Cuban sold the team to Las Vegas billionaire Miriam Adelson, who is Dumont’s mother-in-law, but later said he fully expected to still run basketball operations after the sale. That’s not what ultimately played out and Dumont allowed the trade to happen.
Now, with Harrison out, Cuban is back in the fold as an “adviser” to Dumont to help navigate the post-Doncic era. One thing is certain: The miracle of winning the draft lottery to land Flagg and his subsequent meteoric rise during his rookie season has eased the sting of Doncic’s departure.
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