Mark Cuban: You’ve got to understand what people are like, what their backgrounds are like, who they are personally, what their families are like, how they interact with other people, and from that part of the world in my experiences Luka was just, other than the basketball talent, he was just like every other guy. And I think that was one of the reasons, he loves to play with the Slovenian team, he relates so well to all the other players from that part of the world, and over the summers that’s who he’s hanging out with, that’s who he is. So I don’t think that we truly took the time to understand that, and that really led to this decision. And that really underpinned this decision, that lack of attention to that issue and I think that’s here we are now.

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April 6, 2025 | 7:46 am EDT Update

Stephen A. Smith: One of the things that was reported, Mark Cuban, is that throughout his years as much of a generational talent as we all know Luka to be, his dad spoke out upon in the immediate aftermath of the trade because of the cynicism that was thrown in Luka’s direction: Doing his own thing, marching to the beat of his own drum, controlling his circle to some degree, strength and conditioning, being in shape. All of these different things. Was it fair criticism? Was it exaggerated? Was he being maligned unnecessarily in your eyes? Mark Cuban: Everybody saw him. It wasn’t like he was ripped and had a six-pack but what the biggest mistake was in trying to understand Luka is that he’s from the Balkans, he’s Slovenian. And you look at Nikola Jokic, who’s Serbian, and you look at Serbian players in general, they’re just a different mindset. They look at the game differently, they look at life differently, the guys that I’ve gotten to know from that from that region of the world are different and I think that was what was not considered as fully as it should have been.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg on Saturday became just the fourth freshman to win the Wooden Award as the most outstanding men’s college basketball player. Flagg edged Auburn’s Johni Broome, while Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama’s Mark Sears and Purdue’s Braden Smith were the other finalists. Flagg had been considered the favorite for the award during the second half of the season, when he emerged as the most consistently dominant player in the sport in leading Duke to the ACC regular-season and conference tournament championships and the program’s first Final Four appearance since Mike Krzyzewski retired. He won both ACC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and is the clear-cut leader to be selected No. 1 in June’s NBA draft.