<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I wonder if Mark Cuban is adding to the misery of witnessing his Mavs? getting beaten by the Rockets by checking out the scores from the Heat-Nets series. If he didn?t catch on during the regular season, by now Cuban has to know he should have traded for Shaquille O?Neal when he had the chance. If he had, we?d be talking about Dallas as the favorite to win the NBA playoffs instead of jotting down notes to have ready when it?s time to write the Mavericks? obituary. It?s easy to forget that Cuban could have had Shaq last year when Kobe Bryant decided to dismantle the Lakers and rebuild them around his wonderful self. The price was steep ? Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas? best player ? and Cuban wasn?t willing to pay it.</div> Source
Taking Shaq was a risk for the long term of the franchise, especially when giving away Nowitzki. I think that Cuban was just taking a gamble that the Lakers would take other players, just like how Miami was absolutely against giving away Wade. If Miami would have had to include Wade instead, would that have led them to the playoffs? Probably not. The Mavs probably felt the same way - if they could have given away Jamison, Finley and/or Walker instead, they would have been in a much better position. Unfortunately the Lakers went for the Miami deal instead of the Mavs, and I don't think Cuban's refusal to give up Nowitzki in that trade is enough to blame him for failing to get Shaq.
I also did not agree with the article. For starters I remember the Lakers refusing to deal Shaq to a team in the West.
Yeah there were several possible factors. Lakers probably didn't want to meet him 4 times a year, Shaq doesn't have as much left in the tank as Dirk, Shaq probably favored Miami more because he is from there.
Did Shaq have like a no-trade clause because if he didn't i wouldn't have cared where we traded him whether it was in toronto or miami. let me know about this if he had it in his contract
I don't think Shaq had a no-trade clause; even if he did, I recall him publicy saying that Dallas was an ok destination. Heck, even Sacramento was ok for him. The only player that I know of currently who has a no-trade clause is Kobe Bryant.
