Unrest in Texas continues as Dallas Mavericks fans protest the franchise’s decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. While GM Nico Harrison seemed to unilaterally lead the move, all members of the Mavs ownership, including Cuban, have publicly backed it and hope it pays off in the short term.
Many fans rightfully believe a deal like this would never happen if Cuban was still in charge of the team. Nonetheless, Cuban is siding with the new majority owners, telling dissenting fans to ‘shut the f**k up and sit the f**k down’ as he was booed during the Mavericks’ OT loss to the Sacramento Kings.
Someone found the Cuban video!!
He’s dropping F Bombs on us! https://t.co/NW4SVYNdTj pic.twitter.com/eHJBgjPUYF
— the revolution lives (@MVPLuka77) February 11, 2025
The fans that were at the receiving end of Cuban’s profanity were said to have individually harassed the former Mavericks governor as he sat with team owners at this home game.
“Cuban told ESPN that the fans, whose seats were approximately 20 rows behind him, were yelling, “Fire Nico!” while the Mavericks were shooting free throws and again during a critical possession late in regulation. Cuban said he did not curse until the fans pointed and shouted at him, although he did not know what they said.”
It’s hard to know where Cuban stands in this matter. He had made a big deal of never trading Dirk Nowitzki and intended to do the same with Doncic but gave up power over the franchise last season when he sold the team.
He assumed he’d retain power over basketball operations, but he was phased out by the new ownership almost instantly. While his first official statement after the trade was ‘MFFL,’ Marc Stein reported that Cuban actively tried stopping the trade from going through but couldn’t manage to do so in time.
The Mavericks Kick As Many Fans Out As Possible
The environment at the American Airlines Center was decidedly negative, as the Mavericks played a few hours before Doncic’s Lakers debut. To make matters worse, Doncic’s replacement in Dallas, Anthony Davis, suffered a potentially season-ending injury in his debut for the franchise.
Amidst fan unrest, the arena security ejected as many fans from the game for targeting GM Harrison in chants or bringing in signs or t-shirts that called for his dismissal. The ejections were so blatant that the Mavericks even issued statements justifying why fans were being kicked out of the arena.
“In the first incident, the guest brought in a sign that broke the following rule included in the NBA Code of Conduct: Clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization towards any person(s).”
“In the second incident, the fan wore a T-shirt that also broke the rule [cited] and was also intoxicated, disruptive, and uncooperative, all listed in the NBA Fan Code of Conduct,” Finegold said in the statement.
Franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki, who often attends home games, was absent as he chose to attend Luka Doncic’s debut for the Lakers in LA instead. It was a good decision as fan outrage might get directed at Nowitzki if he’s seen alongside Mavericks’ management or ownership at this time.
The wounds in the hearts of Dallas fans will not heal easily. Amidst rising injury issues, it doesn’t seem like watching the on-court product will provide any respite to the fans either, as they watch Doncic begin his journey as a future Lakers great.
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