Mark Cuban attempted to stop Luka Doncic-Lakers trade at last minute

According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tried to prevent current GM Nico Harrison from trading Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers, a move that has been skewered by both Dallas fans and neutral analysts alike over the last week. A baffling deal, Cuban saw the swap as a franchise-altering choice and did his best to stop it from happening, but according to Stein, the deal had "already been sealed by a verbal handshake."

Whatever a "verbal handshake" means, it clearly was airtight enough to ignore Cuban's advice. What's even more evident when hearing this story is just how determined Harrison was to do this deal, whether he had approval or not from anyone outside of President Patrick Dumont and the ownership group.

The controversial leader of the Mavericks currently, Dumont, whose quotes on the trade yesterday only further embarrassed the organization, has very limited basketball knowledge and does not have a background in the sports world. An investment banker, he was appointed to this position leading an NBA franchise when Miriam Adelson bought the team, as Dumont is married to Adelson's daughter.

Here is the full quote from Marc Stein about the situation: “By the time Cuban found out about the Luka-for-AD trade, it was too late. Dumont never approached for advice. Sources say Cuban urged Harrison not to go ahead with the swap... only to find out that the deal had already been sealed with the Lakers by verbal handshake.”

Luka Doncic was averaging 28.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game this season, which will be his first without making first-team All-NBA since his rookie year due to missing too many games. He has collected an astounding number of individual accolades in his career, and with the boost of the Los Angeles market, it's likely he gets his first MVP sooner rather than later.

Anthony Davis, after a dominant start to the game against the Houston Rockets, left with an injury in the third quarter, a sort of cosmic joke on the Mavericks, who mentioned injury potential as a factor in trading Doncic – never mind of course that Davis is six years older than Doncic and has a significantly worse problem with missing games.

The more information that comes out about this trade, the more obvious it is that Nico Harrison needs to be relieved of duty, as does Patrick Dumont. Every single reputable media personality in basketball has condemned this trade, yet Harrison forced it through with almost no resistance from the rest of his front office. Only time will tell where this franchise goes, but one thing is for certain: it is an unsteady future with Harrison at the helm.

Stick with MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 Season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Keenan Womack on Twitter/X.

More Dallas Mavericks News

Luka Doncic's jersey number revealed after Mavericks trade star to Los Angeles Lakers

Mavericks' Nico Harrison may not want to be the long-term General Manager

'That's not true' ... Luka Doncic shuts down Mavericks rumors about conditioning after Lakers trade

Kevin Durant calls out Mavericks after shocking Luka Doncic-Lakers trade