{"id":273406,"date":"2025-04-05T06:18:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/mark-cuban-drops-major-statement-on-mavericks-roster-after-anthony-davis-acquisition\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:08:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:08:58","slug":"mark-cuban-drops-major-statement-on-mavericks-roster-after-anthony-davis-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/mark-cuban-drops-major-statement-on-mavericks-roster-after-anthony-davis-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Cuban drops major statement on Mavericks&#8217; roster after Anthony Davis acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"4860045\" data-slug-id=\"2458429\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban made an appearance on Friday\u2019s episode of the \u201cStephen A. Smith\u201d show, where he weighed in on the headline-grabbing, blockbuster deal that sent franchise cornerstone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/luka-doncic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Luka Doncic<\/a> to the LA Lakers in exchange for a package headlined by Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n<p>The trade sent shockwaves through the league, especially given Doncic\u2019s status as a generational player despite being injured at the time, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/anthony-davis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Davis<\/a> being six years older. Mavericks GM Nico Harrison defended the move by pointing to the team\u2019s need for improved defense \u2014 an area where Doncic wasn\u2019t exactly known to shine.<\/p>\n<p>With Anthony Davis now teaming up with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/dereck-lively-ii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Dereck Lively II<\/a> and Daniel Gafford in Dallas\u2019 frontcourt, Mark Cuban told Smith the trio made up the \u201cbest big three in the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p><template id=\"bets-today-poll\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"preview-card-holder bets-today-poll\">\n<p><span class=\"date\"\/> \u2022 <span class=\"time\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"march-madness-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/march-madness-logo.png\" height=\"42\" width=\"99\" alt=\"march madness logo\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/embed\">\n<div class=\"yt-wrapper\">                    <noscript><iframe title=\"Mark Cuban interview, Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, Ja Morant, Kamala Harris\/Barack Obama\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L1t5_Gpouak?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript>                    <\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube\" data-embed=\"L1t5_Gpouak\">\n<div class=\"play-button\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" height=\"370\" width=\"660\" data-img=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/L1t5_Gpouak\/sddefault.jpg\" data-img-low=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/L1t5_Gpouak\/sddefault.jpg\" class=\"lazy-img\" alt=\"youtube-cover\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNico decided that defense wins championships, and they thought that Anthony Davis would be a better anchor for our defense,\u201d Cuban said (24:08 mark). \u201cAnd look, you know, the truth is, between AD, Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford, that&#8217;s the best big three in the NBA.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After the deal, the Mavericks were hit hard by a wave of injuries \u2014 including Davis himself and star guard Kyrie Irving. Still, with Davis on the court, the Mavs went 5-1 in six games. During that span, Davis averaged 19.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists.<\/p>\n<h2>Mark Cuban opens up about losing basketball ops control after Mavericks sale<\/h2>\n<p>When Mark Cuban sold the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/dallas-mavericks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Mavericks<\/a> to the Adelson and Dumont families, it was initially expected he\u2019d stay involved in basketball operations. But once the deal closed, that role never materialized.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban told Smith that the agreement was nothing more than a \u201chandshake\u201d and ultimately didn\u2019t make it into the official paperwork.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt was a handshake agreement and \u2026 I tried to put it in the contract. Actually, the NBA said no. They said basically it&#8217;s between you and the new ownership, and \u2026 they went in their direction.\u201d (22:48 mark)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Smith then asked if Doncic would still be in Dallas if Cuban had stayed in charge of basketball decisions, to which Cuban responded:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think he&#8217;s here. Yeah.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mark Cuban also said he never would\u2019ve pulled the trigger on trading Doncic and shared that GM Nico Harrison only called him after the deal was already finalized.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI was like, \u2018You&#8217;re asking me, right? This isn&#8217;t done,\u2019\u201d Cuban recalled the conversation with Harrison going. \u201cHe was like, \u2018No, it&#8217;s done.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Okay.\u2019 You know, nothing more to talk about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI wouldn&#8217;t have done this. And, you know, thanks for giving me the call.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Since the trade, the Mavericks have struggled, falling to 38-40 with various injuries but still clinging to the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Lakers have surged, climbing to third place at 47-30 as of Friday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-author-info-parent\">\n<span class=\"about-the-author\">About the author<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-info-holder\">\n<div class=\"author-pic-holder\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"author-pic\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,&lt;svg width=\" height=\"100\"\/><rect width=\"100\" height=\"100\" style=\"fill:rgb(128, 128, 128);\"\/>&#8221; data-lazy=&#8221;https:\/\/keedag.sportskeeda.com\/user-pic\/1253811-1730125987-200.jpg?w=200&#8243;<br \/>\nalt=&#8221;John Ezekiel Hirro&#8221; height=&#8221;72&#8243; width=&#8221;72&#8243;&gt;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-bio-detail-holder\">\n<div class=\"author-bio\">\n<p class=\"author-bio\" id=\"author-bio-text\">\nJohn Ezekiel Hirro is an experienced NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda, with over five years in the field as a news correspondent, sports writer, and Editor-in-Chief. His sports writing career began in high school, where he garnered numerous accolades, including being named the national sports writing champion in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>He earned his journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines in 2024 and served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Varsitarian, the university&#8217;s official student publication, for four years\u2014the longest in history.<\/p>\n<p>A passionate basketball enthusiast, he became a fan of the OKC Thunder during the Russ-KD-Harden era. Russell Westbrook, his all-time favorite athlete, impressed him by stepping up as MVP after Kevin Durant&#8217;s departure. His current favorite players include Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, who he believes are the future of the OKC franchise.<\/p>\n<p>He excels in game analysis and rapid news story turnaround, drawing inspiration from the journalistic styles of Woj and Shams. He emphasizes thorough research to ensure accuracy in his articles. One of his most memorable moments is Russell Westbrook breaking Oscar Robertson&#8217;s record with his 42nd triple-double and securing a 106-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Outside of writing, he enjoys listening to music and creating Spotify playlists.\n<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"author-know-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/author\/hirrojohnezekiel-0b23b\" aria-label=\"Author know more\">Know More<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by John Ezekiel Hirro<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script> \nvar fbPixelFired = false;\nvar pixelID = \"952063904834769\";\ndocument.addEventListener(\"scroll\", loadFBPixel, { once: true, passive: true });\ndocument.addEventListener(\"mousemove\", loadFBPixel, { once: true, passive: true });\nfunction loadFBPixel() {\nif(fbPixelFired) {\nreturn;\n}\nfbPixelFired = true;\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? \nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, \ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', pixelID); \nfbq('track', \"PageView\");\nfbq('track', 'ViewContent');\ndocument.removeEventListener(\"scroll\", loadFBPixel);\ndocument.removeEventListener(\"mousemove\", loadFBPixel);\n}\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/basketball\/news-that-s-best-big-3-nba-mark-cuban-drops-major-statement-mavericks-roster-anthony-davis-acquisition\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban made an appearance on Friday\u2019s episode of the \u201cStephen A. Smith\u201d show, where he weighed in on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":273407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}