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Everyone was surprised by the Luka Dončić trade—including Mark Cuban.
On Saturday night, the 25-year-old superstar’s Mavericks tenure ended after six and a half seasons when he was traded to the Lakers for a package centered around nine-time All-Star Anthony Davis.
The Mavericks minority owner confirmed to Front Office Sports via email that he “did not” know about the Dončić trade. He said he received a call about the news “just before it was announced.” Cuban first told local Dallas station WFAA that he had no say in the trade.
The Mavericks traded up for Dončić during the 2018 NBA Draft, when Cuban was still the team governor. At his introductory press conference with the Lakers on Tuesday, the Slovenian star admitted that he never wanted to leave Dallas.
“I thought I was going to spend my entire career [in Dallas] because I think loyalty is a big word for me, and I was trying to stay by that,” Dončić said during a press conference Tuesday.
In 2020, Cuban famously implied he would separate from his wife before trading away Dončić.
“If I had to choose between my wife and keeping Luka on the Mavs, catch me at my lawyer’s office prepping for a divorce,” Cuban said in a 2020 interview with Swishline.
Three years later, Cuban sold a majority stake in the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her family for $3.5 billion. Patrick Dumont, Adelson’s son-in-law, took over as team governor. Cuban, who has placed much of his focus on his online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, no longer has a say in the team’s day-to-day operations.
Nico Harrison, the Mavericks GM who facilitated the trade, joined the team in 2021, late during Cuban’s tenure.
