Could Giannis Antetokounmpo have been a Dallas Maverick?
Mark Cuban said as much.
In an interview with Shannon Sharpe on his podcast, “Club Shay Shay,” Cuban explained how close Antetokounmpo was to being a Mav and told some stories about Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic. Here are some highlights, edited lightly for clarity.
Is it true that when Giannis Antetokounmpo was a free agent, did you want to try to get him? I’m reading this as you passed on him.
Mark Cuban: No, it was two different things. When Giannis was getting drafted, that’s when we passed. Because we had Dirk [Nowitzki], and this is like 2012 I think it was, or 2013. We had just won the championship two years ago. So some of our people wanted to go for Giannis. I wanted to trade down, and we ended up getting Shane Larkin, not because so much of Shane who could play, but we needed that cap room to go out and try to sign somebody to propel Dirk. We wanted to go for the gold again. We wanted to get another one so, it’s just the way it worked out. Had we gotten Giannis, we never would have gotten Luka [Doncic].
How do you try to maximize a window with a superstar? You knew you had a limited window left with Dirk to maximize.
Cuban: So Giannis coming out, there were, I vividly remember, there were two VHS tapes of him playing in the Greek League. That was all they had to show me. You know like the old school tapes, if you went into yards, that’s what it was. Look, he got drafted at 13, I think, or something like that. It wasn’t like every other team knew about him, either. But you have to respect Dirk. You have to respect what he’s done for us. And I already know, Dirk, if instead of going for it in free agency, we had just said, ‘This rookie is going to be great,’ it would be like, what a [disaster]. Just out of respect to Dirk, it was my final decision, and we went for it, and we didn’t get the free agents we wanted, but that was the plan.
I don’t think Luka realizes how great he can be. I believe if Luka were to train in the offseason and get himself in tip-top shape, he could transcend.
Cuban: We all mature as we get older, right? And this going into his sixth year he learned what it takes to get to the Finals for the first time. And that tells you a lot. It’s like with Dirk, when we lost in 2006 in the Finals to Miami, Dirk’s attitude changed completely. Dirk just became a different human in terms of preparation. I mean, literally, no alcohol during the season, which wasn’t how we used to be. No sweets, no fried food during the season. Just a complete about face, on how he approached his profession, and Luka’s smart like that too, but I haven’t talked to him this offseason about all that kind of stuff.
Tell us the story about Grant Williams trash talking Luka in practice. Were you there that day?
Cuban: I wasn’t there that day, but I heard all the stories, obviously. Grant was trying to define himself. Grant’s a great guy, I still keep in touch with him. I like him a lot. He was trying to define his role with the Mavericks. He wasn’t going to be the best player, but he was going to be a role player that that had to fit in and make threes, but he was kind of like the enforcer, and he also wanted to be kind of the adult on the court. With Luka, it just didn’t go over well at all. When you start trash talking Luka, that’s never going to end well, like, if I’ve trash talked him, like in fun, he gives me the stink eye. You know you are not doing that to Luka and Grant found out the hard way.
Do you really believe that Luka right now is better than Dirk’s ever been?
Cuban: Remember, the league has changed and Dirk, the skills he brought, and even more than his skills, the mindset, Dirk is mentally tougher than any human I’ve ever met my life. Whether it’s dealing with pain. It’s what you do off the court, what you do off the field that defines what you do. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, right? We’ve both seen talented guys just flame out in a minute. Dirk had that mindset that was stronger than maybe anybody, other than Michael Jordan. Luka on the other hand, in terms of actual skill and killer instinct, Luka can handle the ball. Dirk needed somebody to get him the ball. That’s the only reason, right? If Dirk came out now, he’d have the skills and the handles, right? Kids today, they watch on Instagram, they watch on TikTok, all the drills and all the handles, and they see Steph [Curry], and they see Luka and Kyrie. Dirk would have been out with all those handles.
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