The Dallas Mavericks might take years to heal from what happened in February 2025. Luka Doncic was a pillar of the community and the apple in the eye of fans across Dallas, and the citizens had to watch him be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a secret move that betrayed all fans of the franchise. Former GM Nico Harrison, the key perpetrator, has already been fired, and the Mavericks have already got their next franchise icon in Cooper Flagg on the roster.
Even with a bright future on the horizon, fans are still hurting over the Doncic trade. One of the people who probably hurt the most because he couldn’t use his profile as a minority owner to stop the trade was Mark Cuban. Cuban has repeatedly thrown shots at Harrison for making that deal since the GM was fired, but his recent comments referring to head coach Jason Kidd in a recent podcast appearance are the first time he’s openly named Kidd as responsible for the Doncic trade alongside Harrison.
“J-Kidd had coached with Anthony Davis and was close to him. Nico was close to AD. You talk about confirmation bias; there was some of that, but that doesn’t justify our coach and our general manager to stand up and trade our best player.”
Coach Kidd stated in response to Cuban’s revalation on the Dallas Morning News.
“When are we going to move on? We have to move forward. We’re focused on the present and the future, and we’ve got an incredible opportunity to build… I truly believe the Mavs fans have built before and will build again. And we want them to be a part of this build.”
It seems both Cuban and Kidd have confirmed that the coach definitely played a role in Doncic’s sudden departure from Dallas last season. Kidd’s involvement has never been truly confirmed, although most Mavericks fans assume Kidd did play a role since he sat next to Harrison in the press conference that announced the Doncic trade last season.
Unfortunately, Kidd might have himself underestimated the wrecking ball Doncic’s departure could be to the fanbase and the championship hopes the franchise had after making the 2024 NBA Finals.
Anthony Davis might have had a bond with Kidd and Harrison, but he played just 29 games over his Mavericks career and averaged 20.2 points and 10.8 rebounds. He was unsurprisingly injured for most of his time with the Mavericks, and he had to be traded this season as essentially a salary dump so that the franchise could start correcting course after completely shooting themselves in the foot by trading Doncic away.
Now, the Flagg era is in full swing, as the ROTY candidate is averaging 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in a historic rookie campaign. Flagg’s amazing numbers are a small consolation, as Doncic has averaged 32.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 8.0 assists in 90 games in Los Angeles.
Flagg as a player archetype will be more Kidd-friendly due to his incredible defensive skills, so hopefully, there’s no risk of history repeating itself here. But if the Mavericks were looking to start fresh after firing Harrison, Kidd’s presence on the bench is still slightly odd.
Maybe more changes are loading in the Mavericks front office over the summer when they hopefully add another top draft pick to the roster in the stacked 2026 Draft, with their current 24-52 record giving them the sixth-best odds for the No. 1 pick.
