Brad Townsend: Yo, what’s happening to @Luka Doncic? I asked him in June about his Twitter promise to @Mark Cuban that “a 6-pack” was on the way. “I’m going to try,” he said. Apparently meant it. (And @Kristaps Porzingis approves). pic.twitter.com/bYEquE2II2
Mark Cuban Rumors
How difficult is it when you’re on a team and the owner is holding the franchise back? Is that something players notice and get upset about? Kenyon Martin: Yeah, look at my situation in New Jersey. It was solely the owner . It was a group, but one guy had majority ownership (Bruce Ratner) and he had the final say. He cost the Nets a championship, I believe. They’ve could’ve had Jason Kidd, myself and others for a very long time. Who knows what could’ve happened ? Ownership definitely plays a role. If you have an owner like Steve Ballmer and Mark Cuban, who are willing to open their checkbook and put the organization’s success first and spend whatever is necessary to win, that’s huge too. The owner plays a role both ways, good or bad.
Cuban did not discuss specific players in his email but said “I was sitting in the room full of people when the call was discussed and we put the trade we thought was happening on our board. We later discussed trade kickers and added a player to make it work. They obviously thought they heard something else.” Cuban said “there was absolutely nothing malicious that went on.” And Cuban made this clear, too: “We get along great with the Heat and have done many deals with them. Wires just got crossed somehow.” The Mavericks have great respect for Dragic but were hoping to use their cap space in other ways and found what they hope will be their long-term point guard solution in Delon Wright.
After the trade with the Mavericks fell apart, the Heat conveyed to Dragic’s camp that it would try to trade him to accommodate cap requirements to execute the Butler sign and trade, according to league sources. But when Portland offered to take Hassan Whiteside for Mo Harkless (then re-routed to the Clippers) and Meyers Leonard, that eliminated Miami’s need to trade Dragic. And the Dragic camp was then told that he would remain on the Heat barring something unforeseen. The Heat has declined to comment about what led to the misunderstanding with Dallas or anything involving the matter.
One of the names that’s commonly brought up as a potential buyer for the Pirates is Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban, who currently owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Cuban is worth $4.1 billion, the argument goes, so surely he’d spend enough to make the team competitive. Back in 2005, Cuban even looked into buying the Pirates, although he was told they weren’t for sale.
Is Cuban still interested in perhaps purchasing his hometown baseball team? The simple answer is no, but Cuban explained his rationale in an email exchange with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday afternoon. “No. For a few reasons,” Cuban wrote. “First is my kids are too much fun. I inquired when I was still single. Second, baseball is in a heap of hurt. It’s not just that attendance is falling, but rather they seem to fight any new idea that does not have a clock assigned to it. It’s a shame. Maybe gambling will bring in new fans.”
“I get 10 emails a month asking me [about buying the Pirates],” Cuban said. “My answer is always the same. ‘If I offered you a job that required you to stand in downtown Pittsburgh and have every Pirates fan in the world scream at you for 10 hours a day, and it paid at least $25 million a year, would you take that job?’ That’s why the Pirates won’t be sold.”
