DALLAS — Mark Cuban said Wesley Matthews and Harrison Barnes are players he never wanted to trade, the Kristaps Porziņģis deal didn’t meet expectations, and players often don’t understand roster decisions.
Cuban made the comments as a guest on the Season 2 premiere of Free Range with Von Miller, the podcast Von Miller hosts with Audacy and posts to his YouTube channel. TJ Banks co-hosts the show.
Cuban owned the Mavericks from 2000 to 2023. He sold controlling interest in December 2023 at a valuation of roughly $3.8 billion, retained 27% of the franchise, and holds the title of alternate governor.
Mark Cuban On What Players Misunderstand About Owners
Cuban said the worst part of owning a team is that nothing is in his hands once the ball goes up.
“Depends on the owner because no two owners in sports are the same. I mean, I love Jerry, man. Jerry, you know he wears his heart on his sleeve. He wants to win. I was the same way, right? I just wanted to win,” Cuban said. “And the more you understand your guys, the more you understand chemistry in the locker room. The more you understand the locker room, the more you understand how to put together a team.”
“And I think sometimes where things go crosswise, guys have to focus on their career, right, and try to figure out what’s best for them,” Cuban continued. “And I think not all owners respect that. I always tried to respect that and always tried to recognize that players can’t play forever. Father time is undefeated.”
Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 and has served as the team’s general manager ever since. Dallas won three Super Bowls under him in the 1990s. Miller signed a one-year contract with the Cowboys on Aug. 16.
Mark Cuban On The Players He Did Not Want To Trade
Dallas acquired the draft rights to Luka Dončić by trading for the third overall pick in 2018, getting it from Atlanta on draft night.
“Teams go through cycles. If you know, 10-year veteran, if the team’s going young, right, there’s players, Wesley Matthews, that I never wanted to trade,” Cuban explained. “There’s just guys that I really liked a lot, Harrison Barnes. But if you’re going to go young and build around Luka, you got to come in and bring in younger players. And like we traded for Kristaps Porziņģis. Didn’t work out the way we expected.”
The Mavericks traded Matthews to New York on Jan. 31, 2019, alongside Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, a 2021 first-round pick, and a conditional 2023 first-round pick. Dallas received Porziņģis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee, and Trey Burke. The Knicks waived Matthews after the deal.
Matthews had signed with Dallas in 2015 and was averaging 13.1 points at the time of the trade. Barnes signed in 2016 and was averaging 17.7 points when the Mavericks sent him to Sacramento the following week for Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph.
Porziņģis had not played since tearing an ACL in February 2018. Dallas signed him to a five-year, $158 million contract that summer. He averaged 20.0 points and 8.8 rebounds across 134 games with the Mavericks before being traded to Washington in February 2022.
Mark Cuban Says Bad News Beats No News
Cuban told CBS Sports in 2019 that losing Steve Nash in free agency years earlier shaped his willingness to make the Porziņģis trade.
“But guys don’t always understand the logic behind what we’re doing. And I always tried to always communicate,” Cuban said. “I always felt like even if it was bad news, it was better to give bad news than no news. And guys typically respected that.”
Dallas won 42 games in 2020-21 and lost a first-round series to the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games. The Mavericks reached the Western Conference finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals in 2024.
Cuban founded the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company in 2022. He left ABC’s Shark Tank after the show’s 16th season.
