Mark Cuban Reveals Failed Mavericks Trade for Celtics Hall of Famer

Mark Cuban has never been shy about failed transactions or trades that have fallen through for the Dallas Mavericks. Whether or not to believe him is a different story, but he was always chasing big names in an effort to pair Dirk Nowitzki with another superstar.

Cuban recently appeared on the "520 Club" podcast, where he talked about a failed trade that would've landed the Mavs with NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce.

"We had a trade for Paul Pierce. Done. Absolutely done," Cuban claimed. "Our GM had worked out with Atlanta where we were going to give them a pick, we were going to do a trade so that we could gross up the numbers right, and it was a trade that Danny Ferry [Atlanta's GM/President of Basketball Operations at the time] agreed to.

"And then he gets on the trade call and realizes we're trading for Paul Pierce. Says 'No. You gotta throw in a first-round pick in order for us to okay this.' We couldn't do it. Shoutout to Danny Ferry."

Mark Cuban reveals to Jeff Teague on the 520 Podcast that he was this close from getting Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant to come to the Dallas Mavericks and pair up with Dirk Nowitzki, but both times it fell through. pic.twitter.com/P3PJziZAkg
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Thechat101) April 6, 2026

What Would a Mavericks Trade For Paul Pierce Have Looked Like?

While Cuban doesn't reveal too many details about who or what was in the trade, we do have a narrow timeline by his name-dropping Danny Ferry with the Atlanta Hawks, as he was only in charge of decision-making there from 2012 to 2014, which is not a large window. Paul Pierce was also traded from the Boston Celtics to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2013.

Cuban doesn't specify if Pierce was on the Celtics or the Nets at the time, but you'd have to imagine they wouldn't have traded for him after his one year in Brooklyn. Trading for him after his last year in Boston would've felt like a typical Mavericks move.

Trying to figure out a three-team trade in a failed deal is nearly impossible. We don't even know exactly when it was. If we assume the deal was in the summer of 2013, they didn't make any trades besides moving down the draft board, which cost them the chance at drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo.

However, they did make a separate trade with the Atlanta Hawks at the 2013 trade deadline, where they traded Dominique Jones for Anthony Morrow. There's a possibility that it was supposed to be attached to that, and they pivoted instead when Atlanta backed out of helping them facilitate this trade.

In hindsight, it's probably good that this trade didn't go through. Pierce only played until 2017, and it's not worth giving up significant draft capital to make that work. If we're to think it was around 2013, he averaged 13.5 PPG in 2013-14, 11.9 PPG in 2014-15 with the Washington Wizards (hit a game-winner in the playoffs), 6.1 PPG in 2015-16 with the LA Clippers, and then just 3.2 PPG in 25 games for the Clippers again in his final season. He was not an All-Star at that point in his career.

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