Lakers just exposed the key detail that would've stopped the Luka Doncic trade

The Dallas Mavericks altered basketball history forever when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last February. Mavericks fans were heartbroken that their superstar was ripped right from their grasp less than a year after he led them to the NBA Finals, and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss recently revealed the exact reason that they kept things so secretive surrounding the trade.

"it required a lot of strategy and a lot of small steps in order to pull it off," Buss said on Pretty Tough with Maria Sharapova. "Rob Pelinka, our general manager, was able to do that, all with it out leaking to the media, because I think Mark Cuban might have jumped in front of a train to keep it from happening."

The Lakers made sure Mark Cuban never found out

While there have been varying reports about who was actually involved in the trade, there's no doubt that both sides kept it quiet and out of the public eye. It was set to be the most controversial trade in sports history, and any leaks to the media would've caused the deal to sink before it even happened.

Nico Harrison and especially Rob Pelinka worked in silence, and as Buss said, all of this could've hit the fan if Mark Cuban ever found out about these secret negotiations.

Cuban was a huge Luka supporter, and if he had heard even a peep that the Mavericks were thinking about trading him, he would've shut it down immediately. He would've gone to Patrick Dumont himself and told him not to trade their franchise player, but by the time he heard about it, there was nothing he could do.

Cuban would've stopped the trade right away

When Harrison called Cuban to let him know that they were trading Doncic, the deal was already done. It was finished. Dumont had already signed off on it, and the Mavericks' owner had agreed to punt on Doncic in exchange for Anthony Davis. Harrison sold him on his vision, and Dumont trusted him enough to make this move.

This trade would've never happened if Cuban was still in charge, as he was the owner who drafted Doncic in 2018. He believed that he had what it took to lead them to an NBA Finals win, and the two shared a close relationship.

Buss knew this right as negotiations started, and that's why Los Angeles kept him out of it.

The Lakers would've never been able to even sniff Doncic if Cuban got wind that Harrison was ready to move on, and Buss and company are lucky that he didn't hear about it. Cuban would've been the No. 1 hater of this move if he had heard about it beforehand, and the wildest trade in NBA history would've been erased immediately.

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