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Mark Cuban on NBA players in FIBA competitions: I complained about it every single year
“I hated it,” Mark Cuban said of NBA players participating in the Olympics. “I complained about it every single year. Because, in my attitude, guys going to play for the Olympics, Comcast/NBC is making billions. The IOC, making billions. Even FIBA, making a lot. …And we’re giving all these guys for free and taking all the injury risk.”
“What I would tell [commissioner] David Stern and then Adam [Silver] … you know how in soccer, for the Olympics it’s 21-and-under, 22-and-under, whatever it is? And then [FIFA] own the World Cup? And the World Cup’s a bigger event? I’m like, ‘give [the Olympics] our young kids. Do the same thing as soccer. Let the 21-and-under play for the Olympics, and then create our own international World Cup.’ … And they were like, ‘Well, FIBA. We got this contract with FIBA.’ Well that contract will expire. And them immediately — like, they wouldn’t tell me anything — but they were like, ‘Okay, we signed an extension with FIBA,'” Cuban explained, giving a dramatic eye-roll.
Mark Cuban expects Kyrie Irving to play next season: He lives to ball
Justin Termine: “Do you expect Kyrie [Irving] back this year? Mark Cuban: “Yeah, I do. Yeah. I mean, he's gonna be careful, but it's Kyrie, man, he lives to ball and he's not gonna take time off if he doesn't have to.”
Eddie Johnson: “Vegas, and obviously Seattle is another team. What are some cities that might be trying to vie for [a NBA team] over those two?” Mark Cuban: “A lot, right? A lot. I'm not in the mix anymore, but I mean, I've heard Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, anybody who's got a professional team in another big four sport feels like they deserve a NBA team if they don't have one. But I think, you know Adam hasn't come out and said it, but I think Vegas and Seattle are the front runners. When they do it? I don't know.”
Sirius XM NBA: “I let Steve Nash go, and the whole town hated my ass for a long time” 🤣🤣 @mcuban joins @termineradio, @jumpshot8, & Ryan McDonough - hear why he still has confidence in Nico Harrison Hear live Summer League shows all weekend long on NBA Radio! sxm.app.link/nbaradiolive pic.x.com/iBVqgus2O5
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Mark Cuban compares Cooper Flagg to Kobe Bryant: Kobe didn't come in as a polished player, it took him two years
The other thing that matters: neither the Mavericks nor Cooper Flagg sounded concerned about his debut. Summer League performances rarely foreshadow NBA excellence or failure. But one important Mavericks figure saw a positive development as he observed Flagg’s shots clank off the rim. “You kind of have to think of the Kobe Bryant arc,” former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban told a small group of reporters. “It took him some time to get it right. I don’t want to curse him by comparing him to Kobe because they’re not the same. But Kobe didn’t come in right away as a polished player. It took him two years to get it.”
“I think the difference is that Cooper can pass,” Cuban said. “He can play the game. He can defend. So you can put him in any NBA game.” Aside from Flagg’s poor shooting numbers, the Mavericks walked away actually impressed with how the No. 1 pick fared. Flagg added six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. He often assumed ball-handling duties. He ran the floor well in transition. He performed that job description in 32 minutes, though Cuban joked it felt like “90 minutes.” “He’s only 18 so you can play him 90 minutes in a summer league game,” Cuban said. “Even if you could tell he was gassed, he still made the right play. He didn’t try to do too much and say, ‘Hey, I’m the No. 1 pick. Let me try to show you why. He played basketball the whole time.’ And he’s 18. My daughter just graduated from high school last month, and he’s younger than her.”
Mark Cuban: For all the hell that Nico Harrison's gotten, he’s done a great job putting us in a really good position
During Friday’s news conference, Cuban and Dumont stood in the back, shoulder to shoulder, smiling throughout. Afterward, Cuban made it a point to praise publicly embattled Harrison. “For all the hell that Nico’s gotten, he’s done a great job putting us in a really good position,” Cuban said. That’s right: “Us.” Cuban, after all, still owns 27% of the franchise. Cuban certainly did not agree with the Doncic trade. And clearly Cuban has been surprised — shocked — to lose oversight and control of the basketball operations, after telling us at the time of the sale that it was part of the agreement.
Of course, landing Flagg was sheer luck, but Cuban noted how well-positioned to contend the Mavericks will be if Irving returns strongly from his torn ACL sometime after January. “The front office has done a great job of putting together a team where we can compete,” Cuban said. “A couple breaks here and there; Kyrie comes back; Cooper is who we expect him to be; and we can have a really, really good team.”
Cuban was the GM. But Nico was the relationship guy. Cuban had his quants over here, the analysts and strategists over there— And Nico could get into rooms that Cuban either couldn’t or had pissed people off in. But then the sale happened. And somehow, Nico gets the confidence of the new owners. And all of a sudden, he’s doing things he wasn’t actually hired to do—like make a trade on his own."
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So back then—leading up to December, like that fall—were you guys internally like, 'Something's happening'?" Answer: "There’s always been, over the last couple years, whispers. Like, 'Mark’s really in the sh*t now. Something’s going to have to happen.' Some crypto thing. FTX. The Tom Brady–Gisele crypto thing. People were like, 'Man... Mark.' We had a deal with a crypto wallet company that went belly-up. It caused a bunch of weird lawsuits and things like that."
According to Marshall, Dumont and company did not pay Mavericks employees playoff bonuses during the 2024 NBA Finals run, breaking a custom of every NBA team. This cheap move to avoid taking care of employees is an indication of the owners' motives, which were and are not team first. Contrast this with Mark Cuban's ownership, where he shared team profits with employees. It's clear that Adelson's and Dumont's lack of interest in the Mavericks' success or building a winning culture has gone beyond just the basketball court, bleeding into every aspect of the way the organization is run.
The Dallas Mavericks held an introductory press conference for 2025 NBA Draft No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg on Friday. After the press conference, Mark Cuban — who was in attendance — took some time to speak to reporters. Cuban was asked about Dirk Nowitzki and Flagg, to which he provided a “trash talk” comparison. “Dirk would talk his game and tell you what he was going to do,” Cuban told reporters. “And you see that with Cooper, too. Cooper likes to talk trash. The difference was… Dirk would say it in German and no one understood it. So now someone needs to ask him (Flagg) if he knows any foreign languages.”
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