Former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban breaks silence on Luka Doncic trade

Over a month after Luka Doncic was traded, Dallas Mavericks fans are still upset. But there is still one person they have not heard from on the whole situation — Mark Cuban. Until Thursday night, the team’s former owner had not given his whole thoughts on Doncic heading West to play for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Turns out, Cuban shares an opinion a lot of fans have voiced on social media. Trading Doncic away is “one thing” but Cuban says a significantly better package should have come back to Dallas. He believes if Mavericks GM Nico Harrison found a way to make the deal more favorable, the outrage might not be as loud.

“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing,” Cuban said. “Just get a better deal. No disrespect to Anthony Davis but I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected No. 1s, Anthony Davis, and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”

Doncic has recently begun to find his footing in Los Angeles. Tuesday night against New Orleans, he recorded a 30-point and 15-assist double-double while adding eight rebounds. His short time with the Lakers has resulted in an average of 22 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists while the team has won seven consecutive games.

Meanwhile in Dallas, everything that could go wrong has. Davis only played three quarters in his Mavericks debut before getting hurt and has yet to return to action. But with Kyrie Irving now out for the season due to a torn ACL, people are wondering if Davis will come back at all.

Through it all, not much communication has come from the Mavericks front office. Specifically Harrison, the one who plotted and eventually executed the trade. In Cuban’s opinion, that’s been the biggest mistake of the whole process.

“You’re going to make mistakes,” Cuban said. “I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate. It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you communicate why you do what you do.”

Cuban was asked if he would ever trade Doncic, given his past loyalty to Dirk Nowitzki. He did not want to comment, saying “I’m not going to go there. It doesn’t even matter” before referencing an old trade he made, sending Steve Nash to the Phoenix Suns.

Doncic will continue to be supported by Cuban, still having a relationship with the player and his family. You have to imagine April 9 at the American Airlines Center will be weird for everyone involved when Doncic returns to Dallas for the first time.