Dirk Nowitzki Implies Luka Doncic Trade Is Mark Cuban’s Fault Due to Mavericks Sale

The Dallas Mavericks’ decision to trade Luka Doncic gets more baffling as time goes on. The Lakers have been in tremendous form with Doncic at the heart of it all, and the Mavs are reaching lows nobody has seen before. Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki, who played a season with Luka back in 2018, recently commented on the trade, and fans have been quick to notice that he may have indirectly blamed Mark Cuban for it.

Dirk, while hosting a podcast with his sister Silke for his Dirk Nowitzki Foundation, spoke about the trade, and a fan has translated it from its original German.

In the thread of tweets he posted, the fan claimed Dirk called the trade “insanity” numerous times. The German also made it clear that he hadn’t been involved with the Mavs for nearly 2 years, so he was unaware of any reason the team would suddenly decide to trade their franchise superstar.

Dirk did show love to Luka, adding how it was “bizarre” and “strange” to see him in Purple and Gold.

However, the account that posted the translations added that Dirk indirectly claimed Cuban was responsible for the trade, saying his decision to sell the majority stake in the team to the Adelson family led to this.

Interestingly he implies criticism on Cuban:

Says Cuban had to expect what would happen, when he sold the majority share.

Says "last year things developed into that direction" and VERY BITTERLY he says:

"now we see, how everything panned out…."

— triplethread_NBA (@triplethreadNBA) March 16, 2025

Of course, while he has little to no control of the team anymore, the trade is a result of Cuban’s decision to sell. The former owner was devastated when he heard of the trade too and has criticized it in public.

He remains unconvinced that Luka had to go, but also says that the Mavs were robbed in return for the trade. He claimed that a player of Luka’s caliber should’ve ideally gotten them back a lot more than 2 players and 1 first-round pick.

While he has received criticism for his unwitting part in the trade, Cuban’s decision to sell the majority stake was prompted by his love for the team.

Why Mark Cuban sold the Mavericks when he did

Mark Cuban made his name on the internet and in media, and when he bought the Mavs way back in 2000, he used his knowledge of working the media to expand the Mavs, growing their worth over the years, and even winning the championship in 2011.

“When I first bought it in 2000, I was the tech guy in the NBA,” Cuban told the All-In podcast. “I was the media guy. I had every edge and every angle. Now fast-forward 24 years later, in order to sustain growth to be able to compete with the new collective bargaining agreement, you have to have other sources of revenue.”

The latest trends in sporting profits have been around gambling and real estate, something Cuban knows precious little about.

“And so you see other teams—in all sports for that matter—talking about casinos, talking about doing real estate development, that’s just not me,” the former Shark Tank star said.

“I wasn’t going to put up $2 billion to get an education on building. If we’re able to build a Venetian-type casino in Dallas with an American Airlines Center in the middle of it, the valuation is $20 billion. But I own 27% of that,” Cuban added.

He also added that he wanted his children to grow up without the pressure of having to eventually take over his business, so the sale made the most sense.