Mark Cuban has now publicly identified passing on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2013 NBA Draft as his biggest miss as an owner, a confession that instantly revives one of the most painful what-ifs in Dallas Mavericks history.
In a conversation with comedian Adam Friedland on “Adam Friedland Show”, Cuban said the Mavericks’ front office had internal support for taking Antetokounmpo, but he chose a different path as Dallas chased cap flexibility in an effort to build more immediate help around Dirk Nowitzki.
The timing matters. In 2013, Nowitzki was 35, and Dallas was still thinking like a team that owed its franchise legend one more serious run. Cuban said that was the year the Mavericks were trying to create cap room for Dwight Howard, and that plan helped drive his decision to trade down rather than use the No. 13 pick on a long-term project like Giannis. According to Cuban’s recounting, some of the team’s basketball decision-makers wanted Antetokounmpo, but he overruled that route because he did not want to sacrifice the team’s immediate plan for Dirk.
The mechanics of that draft night remain striking. Dallas selected Kelly Olynyk with the 13th pick and immediately dealt his rights to Boston for the 16th pick, Lucas Nogueira, and two future second-round selections. The Mavericks then moved again, sending Nogueira elsewhere as part of a broader reshuffling of assets. In other words, the franchise that sat two spots ahead of Milwaukee never made the swing on Antetokounmpo at all.
With the benefit of hindsight, the regret is obvious. Antetokounmpo became one of the defining players of his era, while Dallas’ short-term gamble did not deliver the star outcome it wanted. Howard ultimately signed with Houston, leaving the Mavericks without the transformational addition they had hoped to create room for. That is what makes Cuban’s admission resonate now: it is not simply a billionaire owner acknowledging a mistake, but a franchise architect admitting he chose urgency over upside and lost on both fronts.
