Mark Cuban went on the “Intersections Podcast” recently to clear the air on the infamous Luka Doncic trade to the Los Angeles Lakers before last February’s trade deadline that sent back Anthony Davis.
Mavericks Minority Owner Mark Cuban highlighted tension between management and player representation.
Cuban went on to say that Nico Harrison, the now-former general manager of the Mavericks, was not the only one who spearheaded the trade; head coach Jason Kidd was complicit in the deal.
The Luka Dončić trade is widely criticized as one of the worst in modern NBA history. Dallas Mavericks fans and media have largely blamed Harrison for the deal, heightened by Dončić’s ongoing MVP-level performance with the Lakers. The situation reflects deeper issues within the Mavericks’ leadership and decision-making process, which Cuban addressed in his comments.
Cuban said on the podcast that there was animosity between Harrison and Doncic’s representation, and between members of his inner circle who played a part in the deal, as well as Kidd, who was an assistant coach with the Lakers while on the team with Davis from 2019 to 2021 and won the 2020 NBA championship. Harrison is a former Nike executive who has known Davis since he was a teenager.
“I think there was animosity between our former general manager and some people on Luka’s team, his agent and some of the people around them. I don’t think they got along. I think there were issues. J-Kidd had coached with Anthony Davis and was close to him, and Nico was close to AD since he was like 13 years old. So I think there was some confirmation bias as well,” Cuban said.
“But that doesn’t justify it for our coach and our general manager to stand up and trade our best player.”
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Cuban has now outed Kidd since he has been on record as denying any involvement in dealing with Doncic in the past. Cuban is absolutely correct in the theory that you do not trade a generational talent such as Doncic for so little return, no matter how familiar you are with a player, especially when you don’t get equal value. The Mavericks received Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick in the trade.
The trade looks even worse when the Mavericks traded Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards in February in a salary-dumping move that netted back veteran Khris Middleton and journeyman Marvin Bagley III, which waved the white towel on a potentially golden era for the Mavericks.
