Whether the Dallas Mavericks like it or not, they were the initiators of one of the worst NBA trades ever made, sending Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis and others. Many were quick to blame Nico Harrison, but trades of this magnitude require ownership approval, meaning Patrick Dumont signed off. One can only wonder what might have happened if Mark Cuban had still been the majority owner.
Mark Cuban Says He Regrets Selling the Mavericks to Patrick Dumont
A sneak peek of Cuban’s appearance on the upcoming “Intersections Podcast” showed him saying that while he doesn’t regret selling the team, he regrets selling it to Dumont, though not in those exact words.
“I don’t regret selling,” Cuban said. “I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Mark Cuban:
“I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to… I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”
(via Intersections podcast, h/t @MikeACurtis2) pic.twitter.com/iT4bGvaYcz
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) March 30, 2026
While Cuban isn’t blameless, his role is indirect. There was no way he could have known what Harrison and Dumont planned for Dončić, and it’s unlikely he would have approved such a trade had he remained majority owner.
His reflections are rooted in hindsight, but the deal looked bad from the start. When Shams Charania first reported it, fans thought his account had been hacked. Even casual observers knew the Mavericks had made a baffling move.
Charania later confirmed the report was real, and the trade has only aged worse (Davis played just 29 games before Dallas offloaded his salary to the Washington Wizards).
Cuban earlier stated that if he were still making the decisions, Dončić would never have been traded, adding that Harrison only informed him of the deal after it had already been completed.
“I was like, ‘You’re asking me, right? This isn’t done,’” Cuban said in 2025. “He was like, ‘No, it’s done.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ You know, nothing more to talk about.”
Other NBA trades have turned out poorly in the long term, but most made sense at the time. This one didn’t. The Mavericks had just reached the NBA Finals, and Dončić was still in his mid-20s.
Yes, they now have Cooper Flagg, who looks like a transcendent talent, but the sting remains for fans who watched the franchise trade away its best player since Dirk Nowitzki. Cuban may not have been perfect, but he knew better than to make that deal, especially for that package.
