It's been quite the spectacle, watching both the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers following the out-of-nowhere trade that sent Luka Doncic from Dallas to Los Angeles.
Mavericks GM Niko Harrison made the baffling decision to trade a generational talent for a top 20 player, a young starter, and a first-round pick. That wasn't nearly the haul that he could have received had he made Doncic available to other teams. To add insult to injury, the Mavericks have been decimated with injury after injury following the trade.
That has hurt their chances of making the playoffs, and now they look more likely to end up picking in the lottery the year after making the NBA Finals. While the Lakers have had recent struggles, they are clearly much better off with Doncic long-term. He is only 26 years old and could easily be a force in the NBA for at least the next seven seasons, giving them a major window to try and build around him.
However, the question that remains in the aftermath of the trade is why the Mavericks even moved Doncic in the first place. Many believed that part owner Mark Cuban still had the final say over deals, but Cuban has clarified his role with the Mavericks and why he was powerless to stop the trade.
Mark Cuban finally reveals how the Lakers were really able to trade heist Luka Doncic from the Mavs
Cuban has been arguably the most well-known owner in the NBA for decades now, but he sold the majority stake in the Mavericks a couple of years ago for 3.5 billion dollars. Nevertheless, it was initially reported that he still was in charge of making basketball decisions. Despite that, Cuban recently stated that that isn't entirely true.
According to Cuban, as a part of the condition of him selling the majority ownership stake, he wasn't able to solidify his basketball oversight duties into the contract. That essentially made that aspect of the deal a handshake agreement.
Unfortunately for Mavericks fans, Harrison didn't have to run the trade by Cuban first, and by the time he found out about it, it was already too late. The rest is history, and the Mavericks find themselves without a clear direction going forward, while the Lakers have a clear building block post-LeBron James.
Had Cuban never sold his majority stake, then Dallas probably wouldn't have ever traded Doncic barring him wanting out. That initially overlooked detail has come back to bite the Mavericks, who face an uncertain future now that they no longer have Doncic.