Mavericks viewed Rockets’ Dirk Nowitzki trade offer as taunt
By Bryan Rose
Earlier today, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stated that things were ‘personal’ between he and the Houston Rockets franchise. It’s not so much bad blood as it is a desire to beat their divisional rival, though there’s certainly plenty of mud that has been slung between the two.
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During the past decade, both the Rockets and Mavericks have been two of the more successful organizations in the league and the fact they play in the same conference has pitted them against each other in some rather important situations.
That in itself is enough to make the blood boil but after the Dallas Mavericks signed Chandler Parsons away from the Rockets this offseason (which created a mild war of words between Parsons’ former teammates), things became even more heated.
It didn’t help when the Houston Rockets and general manager Daryl Morey made a trade inquiry for Dallas Mavericks franchise player Dirk Nowitzki, a sentiment in which Mavericks owner Mark Cuban though the Rockets were taunting.
“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ He asked if we’d trade Dirk Nowitzki. At first I thought it was taunting, but now knowing more about Daryl I don’t think it was in hindsight,” said Cuban. “That’s just not his style. It says a lot about their approach more than anything else. They just have a different understanding and approach to chemistry than we do.”
Houston would eventually come out and say their trade inquires for Dirk Nowitzki were legit.
That may have not been enough for Cuban though who went on to throw a subtle dig at the Rockets, suggesting Dallas isn’t the type of franchise to woo a player by placing a picture of them in jersey currently worn by a player on the roster. Houston of course did this with Carmelo Anthony, which upset Jeremy Lin who was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.