Mark Cuban Finally Reveals Jason Kidd's Role In Mavericks Trading Luka Doncic to Lakers

When the Dallas Mavericks first traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February of 2025, the now-former general manager, Nico Harrison, shouldered all of the credit/blame for it. While he said the decision may come back to bury himself and Jason Kidd in a few years, he acted by himself to trade away a franchise icon before he even entered his prime.

As much as all of the official statements and stories said "This was only Nico Harrison," no one ever really believed that he did it all by himself without getting the coach involved. Jason Kidd had to know somehow, and it couldn't have been right before the trade went down, like Kidd and Harrison initially suggested.

Minority owner Mark Cuban has been very outspoken about the Mavs and the infamous recently, which is an interesting choice (more on that later), but he went into a little further detail about Jason Kidd's role in the trade on the "Intersections" podcast, which came out on Tuesday morning.

"I think there was animosity between our former general manager and some people on Luka's team, his agent, some people that worked around them. I don't think they got along. I think there were issues that J-Kidd coached with Anthony Davis and was close to him, and Nico was close to AD," Cuban said. "...You talk about confirmation bias; there was some of that as well. That doesn’t justify it for our coach and general manager to stand up and trade our best player.”

Mark Cuban just confirmed Finley wasn’t involved with the Luka trade.

Hinted at Kidd being involved too.

“That doesn’t justify it for our coach and general manager to stand up and trade our best player.”

(h/t @KennyBybee, via Intersections podcast) pic.twitter.com/GMM7aVWaa6
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) March 31, 2026

Cuban's recent media outburst is interesting. This comes a few months after a rumor came out that an investment group was interested in partnering with Cuban to buy back a majority share in the Mavs. That was quickly shot down by Patrick Dumont, the team's current governor, and there is a clause in the initial sale that could bring Cuban's stake in the Mavs down to just 7%.

Either Cuban just doesn't care anymore, knowing he's about to have his stake diminished further, or he's trying to ramp the media pressure up again. On this same podcast, he said he regretted who he sold the team to.

Mar 16, 2026; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Dallas Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd looks on against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

If Jason Kidd Had a Big Role in the Trade, Expect More Fan Pressure

We saw how upset the fans got with Nico Harrison, begging for him to be fired until ownership caved in after an ugly start to the season. Everyone always expected Jason Kidd to have a role in the trade, but there was never any real confirmation, other than ESPN's Tim MacMahon hinting at it a few months ago and Doncic unfollowing Kidd on Instagram (but not Michael Finley).

The team has been bad this year, but it seems unlikely that the Mavs will make any immediate decision on Jason Kidd. He just signed a new contract extension over the offseason after some flirtation with the New York Knicks. Unless the fans really increase the pressure in these last few games, Kidd should run it back for at least one more season.

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