Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is out doing what he loves best again: putting NBA commissioner David Stern on blast.
Prior to the Mavs’ game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, Cuban once again voiced his displeasure with the trade involving the New Orleans Hornets sending Chris Paul to the Clippers, a deal that occurred just days after the NBA shot down a three-way deal with the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.
“You’re better off just taking the cap room, or whatever,” Cuban said. ”I don’t think it was about the Lakers, per se,” Cuban said before the game. “I think it was just the way they did the deal, which was ridiculous. I don’t think it was about which team. I think it was the fact that, even with the Clippers, we just went through this whole (collective bargaining agreement) and said the incumbent team still has the advantage and then the team the league owns (wimps) out. And look how it’s worked out for them.
“Bad management gets you bad results.”
The financially-strapped Hornets are being run by the NBA. On Dec. 14, they eventually traded Paul and two first-round draft picks to the Los Angeles Clippers for Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu.
The Clippers are 17-9 and currently are sitting in first place in the Pacific Division; the Hornets are 5-23 and currently are sitting in last place in the Southwest Division. On the surface, you’d kind of have to agree with Cuban. However, there’s no question that Paul wanted out of New Orleans and they needed to get something in return for him.
The potential trade with the Lakers may have looked better on paper right now for New Orleans, but for as bad they are, they needed to build for the future. In addition to a likely lottery pick coming over from the Clippers, the Hornets still hold matching rights on Eric Gordon, who has star potential, and they will have a top-5 pick based on their own performance.
So why Cuban and many others around the NBA may have the knee-jerk reaction to scold and deride Stern for his decisions and “conflicts of interest,” over the long haul, the Paul trade to the Clippers may end up being the best move Stern and the Hornets could have made.
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