The Dallas Mavericks' disastrous trade of Luka Doncic has become a bit easier of a pill to swallow for fans with the recent selection of Cooper Flagg at number one overall, which general manager Nico Harrison audaciously tried to take credit for as part of his “vision.” Still, fans will not soon forgive Harrison and the team's ownership group for sending Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he recently signed a new contract extension.
A lot of the Mavericks' problems can be traced to when former team owner Mark Cuban sold the team to the Dumont family, whom some have speculated orchestrated the Doncic trade as part of a larger scheme to sabotage the Mavericks and get them to Las Vegas.
Recently, Cuban got 100% real on the regret he felt in the aftermath of the Doncic trade.
“I felt like I let people down by not being there,” said Cuban, per DLLS Mavs on X, formerly Twitter.
While Cuban is still often spotted courtside at Mavericks games and weighs in publicly on the organization's moves, he is no longer making the basketball decisions in Dallas, and it's highly unlikely that he would have even picked up the phone on a team trying to trade for Doncic, let alone come up with the deal himself.
A strange Mavericks team
The Mavericks have recovered about as well as their fans could have hoped from the most disastrous trade in NBA history, thanks in large part to the lottery luck which allowed them to select Flagg.
Once Kyrie Irving is healthy (which could still be a while), the Mavericks might just have enough to be a real threat in the Western Conference, especially if Flagg is as good as advertised.
Still, it will be very tough for Dallas fans to watch Doncic enter the prime years of his career wearing the Lakers' purple and gold, especially now that he has slimmed down and is seemingly in the best shape of his future Hall of Fame career.
In any case, the Mavericks are slated to kick off the 2025-26 NBA season at home against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on October 22.
