Luka Doncic & Mark Cuban Talk Rookie Of The Year & What’s To Come For Dallas Mavericks

I am with my favorite person who I've been waiting for. Man of the night, Luka Doncic. How are you? You're here. You're finally, it's a big night. The last time we saw Luka, we were here in LA at Staples Center. And we asked you, we were like, what would it mean to you to win Rookie of the Year?

I mean, it would be special to win Rookie of the Year. It's a great Rookie class, so I mean, there's some great players.

Are you like nervous? Are you excited? The night's finally here.

I'm everything of both, you know, nervous and excited. No, it's my first time here, so, you know. I want to win it, but let's see what happens.

Do you know that you broke the record for the most triple-doubles. You beat Magic Johnson for the most triple-doubles before your 21st birthday. Have you met him yet? You know he's here tonight?

No, I didn't. I didn't. I actually, no. I see some actors, you know, I'm just like, wow, I'm here, they're here, so it's it's nice working with this.

Who are you like most excited to see or meet tonight?

I don't know, I don't know who's gonna be here. That's, you know, I'm just excited to meet you and hang out with you. No, no, no. I'll tell you after the awards.

You know why you guys are my favorite people right now. Dallas. Dallas. He knows I'm the biggest MFFL ever, ever. Fan for life. Mavs fan for life. It's a big night. Huge night.

Yeah. Dwight's up for Community Service Award. Luka's up for Rookie of the Year. Hopefully we'll get a two for, and you know, go from there. I saw Luka earlier, we talked and he actually I I for a second I was like, are you nervous? But he looked like super calm. But I feel like that's his thing. It's like him under pressure, he's clutch.

Yeah, I mean he always is having fun and he doesn't show it, but I know he's nervous. You're you're nervous, I know you are, right?

Nervous for for both of these guys.

Yeah, it's a big thing because the last time you actually had a Rookie of the Year win, which was back in 1995, Jason Kidd. He got tied for Rookie of the Year with Grant Hill.

Yep, see your history of Mavs.

Yeah, that's why I'm the MFFL, right here. Strong. I am with Cynthia Marshall, the new CEO of the Mavericks. It's a big night. Big night for you guys. Right now you got the Rookie of the Year nominee, Luka Doncic, and then of course we have Dwight Powell for the for the work in the community. So it's yes, exciting. So we're we're anticipating a good night. You're the favorite. I mean, and for so many reasons that you're, I mean it's just been so well deserved. You had an incredible season. Your first season in the NBA on the Mavs, which by the way, you know I'm from Dallas. My home town.

Yeah, I mean it's great, you know, just since I've been here in the USA, since I joined the NBA, it's been amazing, you know, it's the best league. You play against the best players. So it just been my first year was amazing for me.

Just looking back on everything, I mean firstly, you played with Dirk, which was his final year, so you got your first year and Dirk's final year. You got to play with him. What was like the one thing that was the most like valuable advice or just anything that you could take away from Dirk for your whole rest of your career?

Oh yeah, not just one, there's a lot of things, you know. The best thing I admire is his inspiration for winning, you know, and his leadership. So that's I learned a lot of things from him.

Last year, I mean, it was all about Dirk. You know, just making sure his last season was spot on. Make sure that last game was something special, and it was. And so this will be the first season without Dirk moving forward.

Dirk's final year, but I I don't I can't even think about that. I can't even think about that, but he has passed the torch.

And he earned it. We had a big send off for him on April the 9th, his last home game.

I'm still crying about that by the way.

I know, me too. Me too. But he truly earned it. He earned every ounce of attention and he doesn't like that kind of attention. So we gave it to him anyway. I mean, after 21 years, one franchise. Oh my goodness. So it was it was great. Yeah. It was it was great. And I think, you know, we've got a good young squad with Luka coming back, Dwight's resigning and getting an extension, KP's going to be playing his first game. And we'll see what happens free agency. We got a great rookie. So I I I'm excited about what happens next.

Speaking of free agency though. I know you probably can't tell us anything, but you can tell us something. I think everybody's saying the Mavs are like the wildcard. People are wanting to know what's going to happen. Right? When free agents come through here, you just say go to Dallas. Go to Dallas. We're counting on you, Trae. If we don't get him, it's on you. Dallas represent. I I am the recruiter. What are you looking forward to moving forward with the organization and the team? I know there's so much to look forward to.

Well, I'm looking forward to what we're doing to really just create that entertainment experience uh for our fans. So we have uh a lot going on. Donnie Nelson is busy, Rick Carlisle is busy, Mark Cuban is busy. Uh so I think you're going to like who we have on the court and the experience that we're going to provide. We're all about it.

Ooh, that's some like secrets kind of going on. Free agency's coming up. But I don't know any of the secrets. You can't tell us anything.

Well, I don't know any of the secrets because I don't need to know. You're going to have 41 times you're going to have an unmatched fan experience. You're going to have an emotional connection to us. It's going to new levels. That's all I'll tell you.

Can you invite me to some games?

Of course. And you can sit with me.

Oh my god. Come and sit with me. That would be okay. You heard it here, you guys. That's the Mavs. Luka's working out a lot this year. Yep. This summer. You said he has one ab? One ab?

Slightly getting some abs. It might be a spray tan to create the abs, but I saw it.

He's always just joking with me, but you know, I I promised him so I'll do it before the season.

Amazing things to come. The Luka Era is just beginning, you guys. Stay tuned. Thank you.