Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

Mark Cuban looks back at NBA Draft with Luka Doncic & Trae Young #nba #basketball #lukadoncic

4 Apr 2024 · 1 min

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In a candid interview, Draymond Green asks Mark Cuban how the Dallas Mavericks acquired Luka Dončić. Cuban explains that both the team's scouts and analytics departments unanimously rated Luka as the top prospect, eliminating any internal debate. To secure the second overall pick, the Mavericks deliberately aimed for a poor season record, ending up with the third-worst record and the No. 5 pick. As the Hawks expressed interest in trading for Trae Young, the Mavericks' general managers stalled, prompting Cuban to directly call the Hawks' owner. Bypassing the usual GM negotiations, Cuban and the Hawks' owner finalized the trade within the final minutes before the draft, ensuring Dallas selected Luka Dončić.

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Drafting Luka Dončić, it took a trade for y'all to do that. Talk to me about how that came about.
Like, our scouts had it, um, Draymond Green number 1, and our analytics had Luka number 1. Wasn't a battle, right? Because we knew Aiton was gonna go number 1. Yes. Right? Then the question was, what happens next? We're thinking, for sure, you know, Luka's going number 2. First of all, the crazy part is— I'm not gonna use the word, but we worked hard to have the third-worst record in the NBA. [LAUGHTER] So we fall to 5. We're hearing that the Hawks The Hawks want Trey. And the general managers are talking, talking, talking, not getting done. So about 30 minutes to go, it's coming up to our time, you know, either get it done or we're not— we're not going to have a chance. I end up getting on the phone with the Hawks owner, and we hashed it out ourselves. And it was like, look, the general managers, they're all over-negotiating. Owner to owner, let's just get this done. And with about 15 minutes to go before our pick, we got it done. Wow.