Despite him and Luka Doncic being on different sides now, former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban says he still keeps in touch with his ex-franchise cornerstone.
Cuban sold his majority share of the Mavs in 2023, and less than two years later, the new management decided that their future wasn’t going to be with Luka, so they traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. But despite Doncic playing for the Mavs’ Western Conference rivals, Mark said they continue to communicate online.
“We still DM, and most of the time, he’ll respond to me. And I’ll still give him s-t about some stuff, and even when we went to play the Lakers, I’m sitting and talking to… his dad, and I are friends. We’ll always sit, talk, and hang out. I wouldn’t say we’re close, but we still communicate as much as we ever did,” Cuban revealed.
Cuban was particularly close to Doncic because he was the one who brought the Slovenian sensation to Dallas via a draft day trade that he personally negotiated with the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. During Luka’s tenure in Dallas, Mark took good care of Luka and treated him like the best player in the world, even attempting to learn his national language, but to no avail.
“Slovenian is the hardest language to learn,” said Mark. “Like I thought I really would kiss Luka’s a- by learning some Slovenian. That s-t’s hard. But in any event, like off the court, I love Luka to death, but on the court, f-k him. I don’t want him to get hurt or anything. They have the same colors as my high school. I threw my high school gear away.”
The super-successful businessman did not elaborate on why he hated the Lakers, but it may be nothing personal. It’s just because both the Lake Show and Mavs belong to the Western Conference, and if the current Dallas team is going to win it all, the road will have to pass through Luka and the Lakers.
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As mentioned earlier, Cuban attended Doncic’s home debut with the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. He explained it was an exception, as he wanted to be there for Luka, who was still adjusting to the shock of being traded. However, Mark said that was the first and last time he watched a Lakers game.
“No,” he said when Josiah asked him if he was going to watch another Laker game because of Luka Magic. “I’m going to hope that they go 0-82…I love Luka to death; he’s a great guy. I’m good with that. Luka’s a good guy, but f–k the Lakers.”
Going winless for an entire season may be next to impossible. But that was just a hyperbole. Cuban was merely saying that he doesn’t want the Lakers to succeed, especially not at the Mavs’ expense. Dallas and L.A. will meet five times this year, including one matchup during the preseason. We’ll see if the Mavericks can match the same level of competitiveness against the Lakers that Cuban himself has shown.
