‘Get a better deal’ | Former Mavs majority owner Mark Cuban breaks silence on Luka Doncic trade

DALLAS — Our full interview with Mark Cuban will air on WFAA+ at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 6. Here’s how to download the free WFAA+ app and watch the interview as it premieres.

When the Dallas Mavericks‘ front office traded superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on the night of Feb. 1, it sent shockwaves through the NBA — and also brought about countless takes and opinions on the decision to move the five-time All-NBA First Team Slovenian guard.

One person many Mavs fans have wanted to hear from since the trade is former majority owner Mark Cuban, who for more than two decades was the singular face on any major move made by the franchise.

While Mark Cuban did give WFAA a brief response after the trade happened, the North Texas businessman hasn’t gone deep on the record with his feelings about the move.

Until now.

Mark Cuban sat down with WFAA’s Jonah Javad on Thursday to discuss a wide range of topics — including, notably, the current state of the Dallas Mavericks, the team he sold his majority stake in just a little over a year ago. 

It all started when WFAA asked Mark Cuban who his son’s favorite Mav was.

“It was Luka Doncic,” Cuban said. “But now it’s Max Christie.”

And how did his son react to his favorite player being dealt to the Lakers?

“About like I did,” Cuban said with a laugh.

Cuban has publicly stated since the trade that he had nothing to do with it. He said he’s been out of the loop when it comes to the Mavs’ basketball operations since selling the team to Las Vegas casino magnate Miaram Adelson: “From a basketball perspective, you know, I hear about it after the fact,” he told WFAA on Thursday. “I don’t hear about anything beforehand.”

While Cuban is still a minority owner of the team, his role as the face for the organization has significantly diminished under the Adelsons’ ownership. 

“Yeah, there are parts that are not fun, obviously,” he said. “Especially this month, or last month. But, y’know, they paid for that right.”

Cuban told WFAA on Thursday that he remains an MFFL (Mavs Fan For Life) — and he sounded like one when talking about the details of the Doncic trade, particularly when speaking on the paltry return the Mavericks received in exchange for their young superstar.

“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing,” Cuban said. “Just get a better deal. I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”

To fans, Dallas’ future is much dimmer these days than it was pre-Luka trade. A team that previously had its sights on a return to the NBA Finals is now scrounging for a shot at the playoffs. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic and the Lakers are on a seven-game win streak and have elevated themselves to the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference standings. 

Cuban led the Mavs when the franchise traded for Doncic on the night of the 2018 NBA Draft. Over the course of Doncic’s career, Cuban expressed nothing but certainty about the franchise’s desire to keep Luka a Mav for as long as possible. 

So: Would he have traded Doncic?

“I’m not going to go there,” Cuban said when asked just that. “It doesn’t even matter.”

Still, he acknowledged all good things must come to an end.

“Father time is undefeated,” Cuban said. “Nobody plays forever. Hopefully, Nico and Patrick have a plan and they’ll make it work.”

Full interview:

During Thursday’s interview, Cuban cited two reasons for selling his majority stake in the team: his kids and the Adelson family’s assets.

“I didn’t want my kids to end up in this exact position, at some level, if they made a mistake,” Cuban said. “Imagine if I didn’t [sell], and my kids had taken over and they made a mistake like this.”

Cuban said social media has changed the landscape when it comes to owning professional sports franchises. When he bought the Mavs from Ross Perot Jr. in 2000, social media was practically non-existent. 

“To log in and scroll through your feed and just see what we’re seeing now, seeing what happens with the Jones family continuously, I didn’t want my kids to go through that,” Cuban said.

He also noted that the Adelson family is more equipped to handle hurdles that will arise in the Mavericks’ near future. Chief among those? The aging American Airlines Center. Eventually, Cuban acknowledged, the franchise will need to decide whether to renovate the AAC or build a new arena. 

If they go the new arena route, the Adelson camp has extensive real estate experience, Cuban noted.

“Patrick [Dumont] and the Sands Corporation… they’re better suited to deal with building than I am,” the former Mavs majority owner said. “I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I couldn’t compete because I didn’t know how to do that stuff.” 

In some ways, the Adelsons’ experience on this front is already showing up: The Las Vegas Sands Corp. purchased a 259-acre plot of land in Irving in 2023 and, just last week, the Irving City Council considered rezoning that land to make the development of destination resorts, and possibly even casino gaming, legal for that parcel.

Cuban also acknowledged on Thursday the notion that his absence has left a hole within the front office that the Mavericks have yet to fill.

“I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate,” Cuban said. “It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you communicate why you do what you do — and that’s their challenge without me in front.”

Cuban doesn’t chalk that up to the current Mavs brass’ inexperience with NBA ownership and fan interaction, however.

“I think it’s just not their nature,” he said, before letting out a chuckle. “They’re just not me. You can’t expect them to be me.”

Still, Cuban noted that there is a difference between running a successful business and running a successful basketball team. 

“Texas Instruments has a record quarter, nobody throws a parade,” Cuban said. “When you win, if fans are passionate enough to show up in 100-degree weather and line the streets, then you’ve got to expect, when things don’t go the way they want, they’re going to be just as passionate in response.”

While many fans have completely turned on Mavericks’ ownership and management, Cuban expressed faith in the Adelson camp to turn things around. To back up his stance, he called on his own experience with a major basketball decision that Dallas fans also once protested.

“I went through this before when Steve Nash left,” Cuban said, referring to the Mavericks’ controversial move with the future two-time MVP in 2004. 

Nash, the team’s star point guard at the time, left Dallas in free agency for Phoenix after the Mavs failed to offer him a max contract. That move was swiftly met with the ire of the fan base. But in sports, winning — not time — heals all wounds. 

“The good news is then we went to the Finals and won a championship,” Cuban said. 

Sure, that championship didn’t come for seven years, but when it did, nobody was thinking about the Nash trade. 

That said, when the Nash deal was made, the Mavericks were betting on young talent — specifically Dirk Nowitzki. Today, the Mavs are the 8th oldest team in the league by average age and lack any standout rising stars.

Even so, Cuban said he still has faith in the future of the team, and he believes the new ownership group will find a way to mend fences with the fanbase.

“It’ll take longer now,” Cuban said. “But it’ll be OK.”

WFAA will have more coverage related to Mark Cuban and his Cost Plus Drugs company in the near future. Stay up to date with WFAA for more on these upcoming stories.