Mark Cuban: Luka Dončić Wants to Spend Career with Mavs, 'but We Have to Earn That'

Dallas Mavericks governor Mark Cuban told reporters on Wednesday that he believes superstar Luka Dončić wants to be with the organization for his entire career before adding, "But we have to earn that."

Cuban also said he wants pending free agent Kyrie Irving to remain in Dallas:

Nothing is more important for the long-term success of the Mavericks than keeping Dončić. The Mavs did so with Dirk Nowitzki and won a title, and the German superstar is now essentially an ambassador for the franchise.

The hope will be that the 24-year-old Slovenian follows suit.

Dončić is already a four-time All-Star and three-time first-team All-NBA selection and has put together another vintage season, averaging a career-high 32.8 points to go along with 8.7 rebounds and 8.1 assists while shooting 49.8 percent from the field and 34.7 percent from three.

But the 37-42 Mavericks are in serious danger of missing the play-in tournament and the postseason, currently trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-42) by a half-game for the 10th seed. Worse, OKC holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, so the Mavericks need to finish a game ahead of the Thunder to overtake them.

Dončić blamed Dallas' defense for the possibility of missing the playoffs.

"I don't think the offense is a problem, and I always said this," he told reporters. "It's our defensive end. I think anybody can score on us. Whoever it is, anybody can score on us."

But he held himself responsible in that regard as well.

"I've been playing basketball for three straight years," he said. "Four weeks in between, it was free. Sometimes it's really hard for me to play really hard on both ends. But obviously, the defensive end, I gotta be way better. But that's not an excuse. I'm still young, age-wise, but it's a lot of basketball. But I've got to be way better. I'm the leader of this team—the one to blame is me."

The Mavericks will live with those defensive deficiencies for now. The main priority is convincing Dončić to remain with the team in the long term. A good start would be retaining Irving this offseason to keep another star paired with Dončić.