Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban shared new details about how he found out former general manager Nico Harrison had sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February.
Ahead of last season’s trade deadline, Harrison shocked the world by sending Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and draft compensation. Doncic and Mavericks fans didn’t take the news so well, and the aftermath of the trade was intense.
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Nine months after that infamous trade, Cuban joined the “Run Your Pace” podcast to discuss how he found out about the trade. He revealed he thought Harrison was asking for his perspective on a potential Doncic trade. Instead, the former Nike executive was letting Cuban know the deal was done.
“I’m in an event in Florida. I get a text from Nico, call me. And so I’m like, okay, I call him. And I thought he was telling me that he’s thinking about it. Then I realized it was done,” Cuban said. “Yeah. It’s just done. And then it’s like, Nothing I can do. Yeah. It’s not my party. Yeah. So I just, you know, I wasn’t happy about it, but it’s Nico’s decision and I respect it. He did what he thought was right and now we are where we are.”
Cuban went on to compare the Doncic trade to one of his most infamous moves as the Mavericks owner: the Steve Nash trade to the Phoenix Suns.
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“And that’s in the past. I mean, maybe it’ll be his Steve Nash,” he said. “And, you know, Luka will go on to win two MVPs. Yeah. I don’t know, as long as you know, because after we traded Nash, we went to the finals, and then we won the finals. So as long as it turns out that way, I don’t care.”
Mark Cuban says Nico Harrison misled him when he called him about the Luka Doncic trade
“I thought he was telling me that he’s thinking about it, then I realized it’s done. Nothing I can do, not my party — I wasn’t happy about it.”
(Via @RunYourRaceTL) pic.twitter.com/NIiULxsEe5
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) November 20, 2025
The Dallas Mavericks missed the 2025 NBA playoffs, but they showed glimpses of brilliance with Kyrie Irving and Davis on the court. The 2016 NBA champion suffered a season-ending injury and the Mavericks picked Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
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Dallas has posted a 4-12 record to start the season. Harrison was dismissed, and Flagg has struggled to find his footing in the association.
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