The Luka Doncic trade is still ruffling the feathers of Mavs Nation, now thanks to a bombshell comment by Mark Cuban that pins blame on head coach Jason Kidd unlike ever before.
Jason Kidd has had enough of the rhetoric that continues to follow the Dallas Mavericks since the team's seismic trade of Luka Doncic.
As the Mavs' regular season nears an end on the outside looking in to playoff contention, the head coach and his alleged involvement in the trade that acquired Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a future first-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers has made waves thanks to a podcast appearance from minority owner Mark Cuban.
The longtime Mavs executive and billionaire entrepreneur joined the Intersections podcast with former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and businessman Kyle Walderp to share his exchange with former general manager Nico Harrison and team governor Patrick Dumont after receiving the news.
"[Dumont] started telling me stuff that wasn’t true that he had been told as the reason why he approved it," Cuban said. "I’m like, 'That’s not true. This is a mistake. But nothing I can do. Here’s how you spin it positively as best as you can.'"
Cuban added what Mavs fans already knew about Doncic, who is currenlty leading the league in scoring at 33.8 points per game and is, once again, in the running to win MVP.
"You don’t trade that," Cuban said. "I think some people got in their feelings. All I’ll tell you is, it wasn’t [current co-interim general manager] Michael Finley, and you can surmise who else was in the room."
Cuban explained how Kidd, who had a prior relationship with Davis from his time as an assistant on the 2020 Lakers team that won the COVID-affected title in the bubble, did not quite get along with Doncic in Dallas.
"That doesn’t justify it for our coach and our general manager to stand up and trade our best player," Cuban said of what fatelessly happened next.
Kidd clapped back with an answer, via Brad Townsend and the Dallas Morning News.
"When are we going to move on?" Kidd asked a reporter prior to the Mavs' 123-99 loss at the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
"We have to move forward. We're focused on the present and the future and we've got an incredible opportunity to build."
That "incredible opportunity" was granted last summer when the Mavs won the rights to draft Duke sensation Cooper Flagg first overall. The rookie has lived up to every bit of his pre-NBA hype and is now a cornerstone that the franchise aims to feature prominently, in basketball and business-related decisions alike. Just as Doncic once was.
Could this reaction from Kidd be interpreted as a ploy to change the subject, because his alleged involvement could be true? Perhaps, but his urge to move on isn't without its own legitimacy. What happened cannot be undone, no matter who is at fault.
And that opportunity to build around Flagg won't ever come to fruition if this blame game persists.
In the time after Cuban's bombshell comments drifted throughout internet circles, MFFLs began calling for Kidd to receive the same treatment Harrison did: a firing as soon as the flame of The Trade reignited and the masses riled.
But for what?
Just for the Mavericks to enter the offseason without a GM and without a head coach? All while the league's brightest young star finishes just his first season and another high lottery pick prepares for his first in Dallas?
"I truly believe the Mavs fans have built before and will build again," Kidd said. "And we want them to be a part of this build.
"And so the things that are going on between two owners is between the two owners. I think we have a great owner in Patrick and he's going to give us every resource to build a championship team. ... The two owners will figure it out. I truly believe that we have to focus on the present and the future. We've got a great opportunity"
Argue all you want about Kidd's successes as a coach, sure. But that's a separate conversation (and one worthy of it, if we're being honest).
Those that are calling for his head just to momentarily feel a hint of justification from something that happened 14 months ago have completely lost touch with what it means to move on.
Or they haven't moved on at all.
But as Kidd said, we have the opportunity to. And because Flagg is as good as he is, we ought to take our own sanity into account and devoid focusing attention back on what cannot be changed.
