Mark Cuban Feels The Sting Of Luka Doncic Trade - Until Checking His $5.7 Billion Net Worth

Mark Cuban may still be hurting over the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic, but at the end of the day, he’s got something else to soothe the pain—his $5.7 billion net worth.

In a recent appearance on the “Your Mom’s House” podcast, Cuban got candid about his feelings on the blockbuster trade that sent the face of the Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. 

"It's just brutal, it's painful no matter how you look at it. It's like talking about a pet dying; I'm in mourning kind of, still. But they paid me to buy the circus, so I just look at my bank account and feel better."

Cuban bought the Mavericks in 2000 for $200 million, inheriting a broken franchise that hadn’t seen the playoffs in nearly a decade. Under his stewardship, the Mavericks transformed into a consistent contender, peaking with their lone NBA championship in 2011 behind Dirk Nowitzki. 

Cuban was also instrumental in bringing Luka to Dallas, pulling the strings on draft night in 2018 to acquire Doncic from the Hawks in exchange for Trae Young and a future first-round pick.

Doncic quickly became one of the league’s brightest young stars, and Cuban embraced him as the successor to Dirk. He promised to build around Luka and publicly stated he’d never trade him. 

After selling a majority stake in the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her family in 2023 for $3.5 billion, Cuban retained a 27% minority stake and reportedly would still oversee basketball operations. 

But that quickly changed. General manager Nico Harrison and new governor Patrick Dumont took full control, and with Cuban on the sidelines, the front office sent Doncic to Los Angeles for Anthony Davis and Max Christie—a move Cuban says he never would’ve allowed. He also criticized the return Dallas got in the trade.

But despite the heartbreak, Cuban doesn’t regret selling the team. Speaking to Dallas’s WFAA earlier this month, he explained that part of his motivation was to protect his children from the vitriol and pressure that come with team ownership in the age of social media. 

While he may no longer call the shots in Dallas, Cuban remains connected to the team—and the pain of watching Luka dominate in a Lakers uniform clearly stings. Still, whenever it gets too hard to swallow, he’s got a not-so-subtle reminder of the business decision that paid off big.