Mark Cuban reveals how he personally called Hawks owner Tony Ressler minutes before the 2018 draft to complete the trade for Luka Dončić, after both the Mavericks' scouting and analytics departments ranked him as the top prospect. Cuban and Draymond Green discuss Luka's generational impact compared to Trae Young and how the NBA's star archetype has shifted from post players like Dirk to versatile ball-handlers.
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What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love. Thank you. Very, very important moment in NBA history. And it's important now on an individual level. This guy is so incredible. It will soon be important on a team level as well with the trajectory of his career. Drafting Luka Dončić.
Yeah.
And it took a trade for y'all to do that. Just talk to me about how that came about, how y'all knew Luka was the guy. Because I had a friend, well, I have a friend that played overseas, played EuroLeague, played. And when Luka was like 17 years old, 16, he's like, "Yo, it's this 16, 17-year-old over here on Real Madrid. I'm telling y'all, he gonna be the next one." And a couple of me and my boys was like, "Yo, you don't think he too slow? You don't think?" And he's like, "No, I'm telling you, he gonna get to whatever." whatever spot he want to get to. He's smart, he shoot. Like talk to me about drafting Luka. What was that process like?
So like our scouts had it DeAndre Ayton number 1 and our analytics had Luka number 1. Ah.
Right?
And so it was, you know, wasn't a battle, right? Because we knew Ayton was gonna go number 1.
Yes.
Right? Then the question was what happens next?
Yes.
We're thinking for sure, You know, Luka's going number 2 because they have a, there's a connection there, everything, right? And didn't happen, right? Gets to number 3. And 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. We fell right to number 5. The Mavs have never moved up in the draft, never moved up, only stayed the same or gone down. So we fall to 5. And so, um, we're hearing that the Hawks want Trey and the general managers are talking, talking, talking, not getting done. So about 30 minutes to go, um, we're getting— 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. And so I ended up getting on the phone with, um, 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.
See, now that's a pro move, Mark, because Luka, and by the way, Trae Young has had an incredible career.
Oh, Traemond Green, nothing against him.
Great career. But Luka, Luka's generational. Like Luka is at any, on any given night, the best player in the NBA. Like, you know, so Luka's generational to me is just a little different. Trae is great. I think Trae is incredible.—
But you just don't know, right? I mean, look, we make the trade and we go to China to play and Sean Marion, and I forget who else from the NBA, you know how they have ambassadors when you go overseas and everything, and they're sitting next to me and he's starting to play. I'm like, tell me what you think. Tell me, because you just don't know, right? You don't know until you know. And you know, nobody picks somebody at the top of the draft thinking they suck.
Yes.
You know, that's a fact.
Whatever it is that you see, you're just praying to God that that's what comes through. And so we don't know. And in the, you know, preseason, you're starting to see little glimmers. And then the regular season, he's, you know, he's still getting started and still finding his way. And then all of a sudden you start seeing these things. You're like, all right, this is the guy.
Absolutely. So I have a question to ask you because you said you got on the phone with, the Hawks owner, I'm assuming Tony Ressler.
Yeah.
Okay, so I'm assuming you got on with Tony and at this time Tony's what, 2 years into owning the Hawks, if even 2 years.
Got that right.
Pretty fairly new. You've now been in this for 20 years. Is that a classic moment of saying when you hire a general manager, let them do their job? And here's why I ask that. Because you who's been in there for 20 years, you're like, You and Joe are probably as much of decision makers when it comes to basketball as there are of any owners in the NBA. And you get on the phone and you hash this out with Tony, but the difference between Luka and Trae has been a fireable offense for other people.
Right. But you know, the Hawks go to the conference finals his rookie year, right?
Yes.
You just don't know. And they're looking brilliant. We don't make the playoffs, right? And no, we make the playoffs. Yeah, we make the play— no, we didn't make the playoffs that first year, right?
Yeah.
And so they're looking like heroes, right?
Yes.
When you get to the conference finals and we haven't made the playoffs. And so you just don't know. And it just takes time. And like we were talking earlier, you can have a generational player. You can have Michael Jordan, you can have LeBron. LeBron didn't make the playoffs his first year, you know? Michael didn't make the playoffs his first couple years. And so it takes a team.
For sure. Vlad Divac lost his job over that because he drafted Marvin Bagley, if I'm not mistaken. Travis Schlenk has been out in Atlanta, but that doesn't seem like your way to go. Like you had Donnie for years like that. You don't, ironically, Pittsburgh Steelers, you don't seem to flip guys much. What's your, like what's your take on building front offices and coaches and retaining them because they get flipped worked over like nobody's tomorrow around this league. But you don't quite take that approach.
Yeah, I mean, until you got something better to go to, why would you change, right? Hiring a coach in particular is the hardest job in professional sports.
Yes.
Because they walk in the door and they're smart, right? That's why they've got the opportunity to be a head coach in the NBA. So they can tell you point by point by point what's already wrong with your team.
Mm-hmm.
And they can tell you what they think they wanna do to get it there and what you need to do. And it's hard to say no to. So you gotta look at the non-obvious factors. Like when we got Rick, and it depends on your team too. So like when we went from Avery Johnson to Rick, we had the team that we had, but we needed just a different kind of voice.
Mm-hmm.
Right? And then when Rick left, it was like, okay, let's get a different kind of voice with J-Kidd, you know, because Nico was coming in at the same time too. And so, Unless there's a reason to change or I've got something better, why change?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, I definitely understand that. And speaking, continuing on the lane of basketball and what you've done with the Mavericks, Dirk obviously has statue, obviously Hall of Fame, obviously championship, MVP, more accolades up until this point. But do you think that Luka Dončić has a chance to be the greatest Maverick ever? Inspired, like obviously Dirk is who Dirk is.
Yeah, no disrespect to Dirk. Dirk knows I love him to death, right? Dirty and I go way, way back. But Dirk will be the first one to tell you Luka's better.
Interesting. That's interesting. Dirk put me in the blender at 40, barely being able to run, man. So I got nothing, buddy.
I don't think he could jump over the line, right? But he can shoot and he's smart, but you needed to get him the ball. Mm-hmm.
That's the difference.
Yes. You know, and that's part of what's changed. Like, you need, almost have to have a 6'6", 6'7", 6'8" guy who can control the ball and get a shot, you know, or get shots for others because the game is so much faster and so much more skilled, right? Whereas before, you knew that there would be somebody good guarding Dirk and they would double him, but you just had to get him the ball in one of his spots and let him go to work.
Absolutely.
The game's changed. You can't just do that anymore.
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