‘People Love Dallas’: Lakers’ Patrick Beverley Speaks on Mavs Owner Mark Cuban
Although there's an overall good perception of Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks across the NBA, it hasn't necessarily translated to Dallas being able to acquire big-name players in free agency over the years.
To be fair to the Mavs, though, they haven't had considerable salary cap space since the end of Luka Doncic's rookie season. Doncic was already good then, but he wasn't nearly as good as he is now, having three consecutive All-NBA First Team nods and currently leading the league in scoring at 33.4 points per game on over 50-percent shooting.
On the latest episode of The Pat Bev Pod with Rone, Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Beverley, who has had many intense battles with Doncic over the years, became the latest NBA player to praise Cuban and the Mavs.
"Great city, great owner," Beverley said of the Mavs and Cuban. "He's one of the owners who is always transparent with you. I think the problem you kinda face in the NBA is you don't know what ownership wants or what it doesn't. Some owners aren't around to give their views. People love Dallas."
Although we're sure Beverley's comments are genuine, it wouldn't be a surprise if there was some trade posturing involved here as well. Beverley, who shares the same agent as Doncic, could be a player the Lakers move on from before the February trade deadline, and the Mavs have been open about their need for a third ball-handler off the bench.
Given that Beverley is 34 years old and has shot career-lows from the field and from deep, it's hard to see the Mavs being willing to match his $13 million expiring contract in a trade when they're able to take a non-guaranteed contract flyer on a guy of Kemba Walker's status. If Beverley ends up getting bought out at some point, though, perhaps the Mavs would consider adding him that way if the Walker experiment doesn't pan out.
Whether there was an ulterior motive with Beverley's comments or not, the hope is that there will be more actions speaking louder than words in the next year or so when it comes to the idea that "people love Dallas." For the Mavs to eventually build a bonafide championship contender around Doncic, it wouldn't hurt if star players around the league felt the same way Beverley does.
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