For two decades, Mark Cuban was the public face of the Dallas Mavericks. Recently, despite selling the team in 2023, he has been in the spotlight again, criticizing the new ownership group for the shocking trade of franchise cornerstone Luka Dončić to Los Angeles. Longtime NBA analyst and Cuban’s friend, Bill Simmons, is calling out Cuban’s hypocrisy.
In the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons criticized Cuban for selling the team to inexperienced new owners at a price below market value, which set the stage for the Dončić trade. He argued that Cuban cannot shift the blame for the trade away from himself, as his own “brutal” decision-making initiated this situation, drawing comparisons to former Seattle Supersonics owner Howard Schultz.
“His decade is f***ing brutal. Not doing the (Jalen) Brunson [extension], selling the team to these schmucks who trade Luka within a year, and then not getting nearly enough for the team,” Simmons stated. “Not to mention all the behind-the-scenes s*** that was going on with that organization. It’s been a rough decade for our guy, Cubes. And now he’s trying to distance himself from the Luka trade, claiming disbelief and asserting he had no idea. It’s like, you did sell the team to these dudes. This is your fault, just like Howard Schultz’s mistakes led to the Sonics’ fate when he sold them to those f***ing guys in Oklahoma City who clearly planned to move them. Cuban sold the Mavericks to those who obviously lack knowledge about basketball, culminating in the insane decision to trade Luka Dončić, which is the craziest thing happening in the NBA this century.”
When guest cohost Ryen Russillo asked if he had tried to book Cuban for an interview since the sale, Simmons replied that he hadn’t. They both noted that Cuban’s media appearances have been strategically placed on shows hosted by casual athletes and political talk shows, avoiding serious scrutiny regarding his own errors.
Cuban sold the Mavs at a valuation of $4.8 billion—$1.3 billion less than what the Boston Celtics sold for—despite the Mavericks owning the American Airlines Center and having a promising young core led by Dončić. He also failed to keep his promise to remain involved as a basketball operations executive post-sale. Although he still owns about a quarter of the team, he is not involved in decision-making. “Nobody in the basketball community genuinely believed that’s how it was going to play out,” Simmons remarked.
Fast forward to 2025, and Cuban is trying to portray himself as the good guy to the loyal Dallas fanbase mourning the loss of a championship-caliber team and one of the best player tenures in Mavericks history. Simmons assigns much of the blame to Cuban.
“What happened to the Mavs, leading to their current state where the fanbase is revolting against the team, is something he must take responsibility for,” Simmons stated. “He shouldn’t have sold the team to individuals clearly unqualified for the job and then act oblivious to the trade. If you loved the Mavericks, their fans, and Luka, it’s absurd to deny accountability. He should have thoroughly vetted these individuals and reconsidered selling the team. Instead, he’s just been saying, ‘Oh, I would never have done that.’ Well, you don’t have Luka Dončić anymore.”
In the aftermath of a trade that not only sent away a perennial MVP candidate at his peak but also did so at below market value, nobody emerges looking good for Dallas. However, Simmons urges that Cuban’s role should not be overlooked, despite his attempts to salvage his reputation.
