As soon as the free agency commenced, rumors had at it that the Dallas Mavericks would try to add LeBron James to the lineup. Kyrie Irving, who was on the 2016 championship team with James, reportedly expressed his interest in reuniting with his former teammate. Despite the speculations that Irving would sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, Mark Cuban and Co. were able to retain their star Point Guard. Unfortunately for Irving, the $5 billion-worth owner recently revealed that the Texas side is shutting any doors in their pursuit of acquiring The King.
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It is no surprise that LeBron James and Kyrie Irving wanted to share the locker room once again. Kai reached out to the Mavs’ front office, looking for them to trade for James. Whereas, the star Forward made his interests very clear to Rob Pelinka and Co. – wanting the Purple & Gold to push to acquire the 6-foot-2 Guard themselves. Unable to land “Uncle Drew”, Bron expressed his disappointment but didn’t lose sleep over it.
Mark Cuban revealed that the Dallas Mavericks won’t push for LeBron James
Mark Cuban recently made an appearance on Bobbi Althoff’s “The Really Good Podcast”. While the two didn’t really speak a lot about basketball, there was one significant moment in the episode. At one point in the hour-long video, Cuban reveals that the Dallas Mavericks were not going to exhaust their resources trying to acquire LeBron James.
After Althoff expressed her appreciation for the four-time MVP, she asked Cuban if LBJ was a Maverick.
Bobbi: “Is he on the Mavericks?”
Cuban: “No, he’s not.”
Immediately after, Althoff asked if there was a possibility that the four-time NBA Champ would be in Mavericks uniform anytime soon. Putting an end to any such rumor, Cuban politely declined. Instead, the 65-year-old highlighted the fact that Luka Doncic was still a member of his team.
Bobbi: “Are you trying to get him (LeBron)?”
Cuban: “No. We have this guy called Luka Doncic.”
Considering the free agency moves that the Mavericks made, not acquiring LeBron doesn’t come as a surprise. After re-signing Kyrie, the team went on to trade for Grant Williams and signed Seth Curry as a free agent.
Admittedly, even if the Mavericks were to make a push for James, there wouldn’t be any way that Cuban would be parting ways with Doncic. Apart from the Slovenian superstar, the team doesn’t have any attractive assets to offer.
For LeBron, there were doubts regarding his retirement. However, during the ESPYs, the icon made it pretty clear that he was not walking away from the game just yet. Considering the plenty of offseason acquisitions that the California side has made this summer, the plan is pretty straightforward – capitalize on the time LeBron is still able to play.
Cuban tried acquiring LeBron in the 2010 free agency
There were plenty of teams interested in acquiring LeBron James when he first parted ways with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010. The Dallas Mavericks were also a part heavily invested in adding the superstar to their lineup.
Even though LeBron had already committed to join the Miami Heat, Cuban tried all hands in changing the former’s mind. After failing to lure James, Mark Cuban ended up making their text exchange public in an interview with ESPN.
