“Value That Goes Far Beyond”: Mark Cuban’s Stern Reluctance To Trade Dirk Nowitzki In 2013 Resurfaces

Since joining the NBA as an expansion team in 1980, only two players have made the All-NBA First Team while suiting up for the Dallas Mavericks. One of them became a Los Angeles Laker yesterday, and the other got to retire as the only player to suit up for a single NBA franchise for 21 seasons.

When the Mavericks traded for Luka Doncic on draft night in 2018, franchise owner Mark Cuban promised him the same loyalty that Dirk Nowitzki had received throughout his career. Unfortunately, in just his seventh NBA season, Doncic’s tenure in Dallas has ended in dramatic fashion.

The shocking trade has left fans wondering why the Slovenian superstar didn’t receive the same treatment as his predecessor. And rightfully so. In 2013, when the Mavericks were facing a slump, trade whispers began circulating around Nowitzki, too.

The season after their historic 2011 win, the Mavs were swept in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. One year later, a knee surgery forced their German superstar to miss over a third of the 2012-13 season, putting an abrupt end to Dallas’ 12-season long Playoff streak.

For some members of the media, it seemed like the perfect time to move on from the veteran forward and put the franchise’s future in younger hands. After all, Dirk was still a valuable asset around the league, and trading him would have sped up the team’s rebuild process. However, Cuban refused to part ways with his franchise cornerstone.

“Dirk defines our culture. When your best player, no matter how old, is the first one in the gym and the last to leave, and works the hardest and encourages guys the way Dirk does… That has a value that goes far beyond what you see on the court,” the billionaire said on The Artie Lange show.

Fast forward 12 years, and that loyalty is gone. The Mavs’ new General Manager is citing culture as the reason he decided to trade Doncic.

Cuban’s quote from 2020 resurfaced after the Luka Doncic trade

After revamping the Mavericks and leading them to their first and only NBA championship, Mark Cuban sold his majority stake to the families of Miriam Adelson, Sivan Dumont, and Patrick Dumont in 2023. The families behind the Las Vegas Sands casino company reportedly paid $3.5 billion to become the majority owners of the team. However, their first big move in Dallas is rightfully inviting criticism.

Fans believe that if Cuban was still at the helm of the franchise, Luka Doncic, like Nowitzki, would have retired as a Maverick. In 2020, just two seasons into Doncic’s career, the former owner of the Mavericks exemplified his loyalty towards the player with a hilarious hyperbole.

“If I had to choose between my wife and keeping Luka on the Mavs, catch me at my lawyer’s office preparing for a divorce,” Cuban said during an interview with Swishline.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t have a say in the trade that sent Doncic to the Lakers. The entrepreneur was involved in Dallas’ basketball operations through the 2023-24 season, but just months after his departure from power, Nico Harrison has undone his good work.