The Dallas Mavericks will likely never manage to live down their unforgivable Luka Doncic mistake
Life was pretty good for the Mavericks heading into the 2024-25 season, as they were fresh off an NBA finals appearance and had hope for the future with Doncic running the show regularly.
Shockingly, though, Dallas elected to shake things up after a 26-23 start to the year by trading Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a move that couldn't be justified then and surely can’t be justified now with both players on opposite trajectories (Doncic is thriving with the Lakers while Davis is now a member of the Washington Wizards after Dallas cut ties with him this past February).
While speaking about the awe-inspiring deal on the House of Haymaker show on Wednesday, Marc Cuban, who used to be a majority owner of the Mavericks, revealed the individual who attempted to block the Doncic-Lakers trade last year.
"I talked to Patrick (Dumont) about it, you could just tell that Nico (Harrison) just (expletive) on Luka,” Cuban said Wednesday. Because some of the stuff that Patrick was telling me was not true. Yeah. And kudos to (Michael Finley) for really trying to stand up and block it.”
Essentially, Cuban is claiming that Finley, the Mavericks' assistant GM and Vice President of Basketball Operations, was adamant about doing everything in his power to prevent Dallas from executing a trade that would haunt them for years to come.
Unfortunately, Finley’s efforts fell short, and the Mavericks went through with their historic midseason deal, oblivious to the implications it could have for their future.
Former Mavericks star Derek Harper is on the record stating he believes the franchise could bring Doncic back to Dallas later in his career, but even that wouldn’t change the fact that the 2011 NBA champions made one of the biggest trade blunders of all time.
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