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Cuban: Walsh Wanted to Draft Antetokounmpo
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All posts by Basketball InsidersUpdated21 mins ago on April 19, 2024
The president of basketball operations (Donnie Nelson) was a big fan of Milwaukee’’s Giannis Antetokounmpo going into the 2013 NBA draft.
He made his sentiment known to owner Mark Cuban, who was receptive, sort of, but when it came time to make hard choices, Cuban elected to go with a plan that the Mavericks had set in place and passed on Antetokounmpo with the 13th pick, which they eventually traded down to the 18th pick and, where they got Shane Larkin.
“He’s making us look bad for sticking to our plan,” Cuban said Tuesday. “That was Donnie. That (taking Antetokounmpo) is what Donnie wanted to do and I said we should stick to the plan. The whole point was that I wanted to stick to the plan and Donnie was like, this guy’s going to be good. I’ll risk everything that he’s going to be good. I said, I believe you Donnie.
