Mark Cuban Says 'Person Who Traded Luka Didn't Want Me' Involved with Mavs Decisions

Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban wasn't involved in the team's shocking decision to trade star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers this past season, and he provided some insight on how things went down.

During an appearance on The All-In Podcast, Cuban explained that he was left out of the decision-making process by the Mavs' new regime.

"There were some things that happened internally where the person who traded Luka didn't want me there," Cuban said. "So, they won, I lost."

Cuban sold controlling interest in the Mavs franchise to the Adelson/Dumont Family. He revealed that he was initially set to remain in control of basketball operations, but he gradually lost power within the organization as he took a step back from being so hands-on while the team made a surprising run to the 2024 NBA Finals.

"Yeah, I f--ked up. ... When I did the deal, the presumption was that I would still be running basketball, and we tried to put it in the contract, but the NBA said the governor is the governor, and they make all final decisions," Cuban explained. "I was involved and then we went on this run where we went to the Finals, and rather than trying to interject myself all the time, I was like, 'I don't want to get in the way, we're rolling.' And that was a mistake."

Despite the disappointment he feels about how Doncic was shipped away from Dallas, Cuban made it clear that he is still completely loyal to the franchise.

"That's in the past, I'm still hardcore Mavs, MFFL," he said, referring to the team's slogan of Mavs Fan For Life.