"If I Had Any Influence, The Trade Wouldn't Happen" - Mark Cuban Is Doing His Best To Deflect Any Sort Of Blame For The Luka Trade

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When the Luka Trade first dropped, after the initial shock started to wear off, it was a little interesting how we didn't really hear from Mark Cuban. Sure he wasn't technically the "majority" owner anymore, but it was pretty much radio silence which was odd considering his role/history with the Mavs and Luka.

Well now that the dust has settled, we're starting to hear more from Cuban when it comes to the trade and it should surprise no one that he's trying to paint a certain picture how how none of this would have happened if he were still involved and that the blood isn't really on his hands

Now, I do think there are some truths here. I do believe that if Cuban was still the majority owner and the Dumont family were not involved, then Luka Doncic is currently a Maverick. Cuban was very vocal during the entire Luka era about how he basically saw him like a son. You couldn't find a bigger Luka Guy than Mark Cuban. So when he says if he were still involved this wouldn't have happened...I believe him

But let's not forget who put the Mavs in this position in the first place. That, would be Mark Cuban. 

It was Cuban who hired Nico Harrison in the first place. It was Cuban who sold his shares to the Dumont Family. And despite this "wink wink" idea that Cuban would stay on and be involved in the Basketball Ops side, he did not get that in writing. I found that to be a little surprising given how much business experience Cuban has, how do you not get that straightened out in the sale paperwork?? Are there no lawyers out there that could say 

"Hey Mark, this is a pretty unusual situation. Maybe we should get this in writing somewhere so everyone has to oblige and nobody tries to screw you over"

It's sort of like what we're seeing with the Celtics sale. Bill Chisholm just bought the team from the Grousbeck family for $6.1B but Wyc is staying on for the next 2-3 years as the transition is completed. I imagine they have that in writing since Wyc made that known this was his intention back in July when he officially put the team up for sale. Time will tell how true that ends up being once decisions have to start being made after this season, but you have to think that was all officially ironed out before the Celts chose their new owner.

Given nothing was in writing, it's not all that surprising that Cuban was quietly squeezed out by the new regime, and once he was out of the picture it allowed Nico Harrison to execute this disaster of a trade. The crazy part is that while Cuban was there, Nico actually made great trades! I think it's a little unrealistic to think Cuban should have known something like this would be possible, but that's the risk you get by not dotting all your "i's" and crossing all your "t's". He deserves his fair share of criticism/blame for his role in putting the franchise in the hands it now lives in. 

What I'm now curious about is what were the backroom dealings/convos between Nico Harrison and the Dumont's. Did they come together to push Cuban out? If so, that's pretty fucked on Nico Harrison's part considering Cuban hired him to run the team without even really having a hiring process. Stabbing that guy in the back who gave you this new life would be a big time dick move.

Did Nico always want Luka gone and knew that in order to sell it to the owners he had to make sure Cuban's influence was nowhere to be found? Given the Dumont's don't know shit about basketball or running a team/franchise, maybe they trusted and took Nico at his word, despite it now being very clear Nico has no clue what the fuck he's doing. I don't know if we'll ever get the answer to how that all went down, but there's a story there for sure.

So while it's understandable why Cuban would want to do everything he possibly can to distance himself from any responsibility of the Luka Trade, all the spinzone in the world doesn't change the fact that unfortunately, his fingerprints will be on it for the rest of history. Maybe not to the same level as Nico Harrison/Dumont Family, but his hands certainly are not completely clean.