It’s difficult to imagine a day the Mavericks will stop taking heat for the shocking Luka Doncic trade that sent him to the Lakers for Anthony Davis. And even though he tried to stop it from happening, former majority owner Mark Cuban has received flak in the aftermath.
On March 21, a former Mavericks event manager, Gavin Mulloy, posted on Facebook, writing that “Cuban should be run out of Dallas” for his role in the Doncic trade, despite the minority owner apparently having nothing to do with the transaction executed by general manager Nico Harrison.
A week ago, Cuban didn’t hold back in response to the former employee in an interaction that was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.
“Hey Gavin Mulloy how much of a bonus did you get when I sold?” Cuban wrote.
Mulloy responded: “Not enough to make up for the Luka trade. I’d give your dirty $$ back for Luka to be here, how about you?”
The response set Cuban off.
“You didn’t say a word when it showed up in your account,” he wrote. “Did you? Sure looked good when we made it to the finals, didn’t it?
“I did every damn thing I could for 23 years. Kept prices lower than not only any NBA team, but lower than college teams too. I had $2 tickets for multiple years. When I sold there were always 4k tickets under $29. I made money 2 out of 23 years I was the majority owner. Lost hundreds of millions of dollars. And you kept on collecting your salary.
“So my $dirty dollars didn’t get a peep out of you those 23 years. Or when you got your check every two weeks. Or when you got your bonus. Go back to what I said when I sold the team. I didn’t want my kids and family to have to deal with people like you. I honestly got tired of the growing number of fans who became pricks on social media. People exactly like you.
“I paid your salary. I paid your bonus I didn’t have to give you. The[n] Nico and the new owners do something none of us liked and you decide to try to f–k with me. Thank you for confirming I made the right decision.”
The businessman and “Shark Tank” personality sold a majority ownership of the Mavericks for $3.5 billion to the Adelson family in December 2023.
He still owns 27 percent of the team and has said the team could have made a “better deal” on the Doncic trade.
Cuban initially said he would retain influence over basketball operations after the sale, though that turned out not to be the case.
At a press conference on Thursday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked about the situation in light of the Celtics sale for $6.1 billion, which includes current governor and CEO Wyc Grousbeck continuing his role through the 2027-28 season.
“I think the situation was very different in Dallas,” Silver said. “I think there was a clear change in control of the franchise to Patrick Dumont and his family. Any decision as to what Mark’s role would be in basketball operations was a function of an arrangement to be made between Mark Cuban and Patrick. The ultimate governance was absolutely clear as presented to our board that the last word on any basketball activities or any significant decision for the franchise would be made by Patrick, and I think Mark’s acknowledged that.
“And whether or not his expectation was that he would have played more of a role in basketball operations, I don’t think Mark has ever suggested that there was a contractual issue at play here,” he added. “That was just his understanding of what the arrangement would be between him and Patrick Dumont.”
Since the Mavericks’ Doncic-less era started, the team has gone 11-15 and has suffered numerous injuries, including to Kyrie Irving, who is dealing with an ACL tear, and newly acquired Davis with an adductor strain.
Dallas is in 10th place in the West, which is the final play-in spot in the tournament.
