FanPost

Mark Cuban, tell me again why you let Steve Nash leave the Mavs in 2004?

I mostly like Mark Cuban. As a Dallas journalist who covered the
Mavericks in their early years in the 1980s and continues to follow
the team, I saw how Cuban helped lift the team from doormats to
contenders. He also is among the most accessible sports owners,
returning emails and calls when few owners will even reveal their
email addresses.

But the dumbest decision Cuban ever made was to let Steve Nash walk
away in 2004. Cuban wouldn't match a 6-year, $66 million contract
offer made by the Suns that year for Nash, but that same year, Cuban
gave mediocre center Erick Dampier a 7-year, $73 million contract.

His reasoning continues to defy logic. Cuban said in an arbitration
hearing just last year that he couldn't match "what amounts to a
maxed-out offer" for Nash in 2004. But he could give Dampier what
amounts to "maxed-out" money that very year, in fact, a month after Cuban let Nash walk away.

Cuban is still having to defend this decision. At various times, he
has blamed former coach Don Nelson for saying that Nash had worn down
and wasn't worth a 6-year contract. Cuban has said Nash had more
motivation to do well in Phoenix after leaving the Mavs. After the
Mavs beat the Suns in 2006 to go to the NBA Finals, Cuban even went on
David Letterman's show and claimed Jason Terry was a more effective
point guard than Nash.

"Steve's a great guy and I love him to death, but why couldn't he play
like an MVP for us?" Cuban told Letterman and the national TV
audience. "Jason Terry took his place, and hey, look where we are, and
he's home watching."


This year, Terry, Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitski, Dampier and other Mavs
who Cuban paid big money for are the ones watching as Nash leads the
Suns to the Western Conference finals.

Cuban letting Nash walk about a month before giving Dampier this contract has to be among the worst decisions by an NBA executive in history. In the playoffs this year, Dampier averaged all of 1 point per game and 6.6 boards a game. Nash has averaged 17.8 points per game, 9 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game in this year's playoffs. Not to mention Nash played one of the gutsiest quarters in NBA playoff history in that fourth quarter Game 4 against the Spurs when he scored 10 points and had 5 assists with one eye.

Another interesting fact: The Mavs had the second highest payroll this
year in the NBA of $88 million, only behind the Lakers' $91 million.
The Suns were ninth at $75 million. The Spurs were 7th at $79 m. The
Celtics, cavs and Magic - one of which will represent the East in the
finals - were no lower than 6th with at least $82 m.

Reader submitted. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of our editorial staff.