Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am  |  34 responses

Cuban Addresses the Shaq Rumors

by Marcel Mutoni

Shaquille O’Neal has done little to downplay the rumor that he is interested in joining the Dallas Mavericks – or at the very least, leaving Phoenix this summer – as he blasted the guy who currently signs his checks, and showered Mark Cuban with praise.

For his part, however, Cuban did his best to squelch the trade talk. The Star Telegram and ESPN grabbed the owner’s reaction:

“Shaq and I, like Phil Jackson, would always have these fun verbal sparring matches,” Cuban said. “People thought Shaq and I were madly in love and we haven’t even dated. A tweet is not a date. “I don’t tweet and tell.” As for O’Neal becoming a Maverick, Cuban reiterated that the notion is an extreme long shot.

Said Cuban of an O’Neal trade: “You never say never because it’s such a crazy league. But you can say that about any player in the NBA.”

Why do I get the feeling that Shaq wants to leave Phoenix and join the Mavs a little more than Cuban does?

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  • Cizzo Posted: Apr.9 at 10:34 am
    Who cares thats why Im the only person stupid enough to even send a comment!

  • chiqo Posted: Apr.9 at 10:58 am
    because it just posted. cuban likes trading to superstars who are past their primes. and even then, drik underperforms.

  • Fernando Sanchez Posted: Apr.9 at 10:58 am
    yea… maybe your right

  • chiqo Posted: Apr.9 at 10:58 am
    dirk, that is.

  • TADOne Posted: Apr.9 at 11:04 am

  • Kozmic Posted: Apr.9 at 11:06 am
    I don’t tweet and tell!! Damn, this is more serious than I thought. Tweet buddies?

  • Hursty Posted: Apr.9 at 11:09 am

  • Allenp Posted: Apr.9 at 11:29 am
    $20 million is a lot of money.

  • stokes Posted: Apr.9 at 11:36 am
    Shaq may be past his prime, but even with that he is way better than Dampier. It would open more shots for Dirk, Terry, and others. And it would make you respect their post up game.

  • vonkers Posted: Apr.9 at 12:45 pm
    Dirk + Shaq is a great combo, even if Shaq is old. That’d be a sick inside outside duo. Definitely an upgrade over Damp too, he’d be a nice backup to have though.

  • Static Posted: Apr.9 at 12:59 pm
    Funny how last nite they were talking about how Damp was performing well overall in the offense and rebouding and then he misses two back-to-back layups off screen and rolls.
    Shaq @ 400lbs, age 40, slow as molasses > Damp

  • Z Posted: Apr.9 at 1:27 pm
    as allen said, shaq is NOT walking away from 20 mil so he’ll be playing somewhere next year. the suns’ immediate future looks gloomy, at best. he looked around and tried to come up with teams that were a) decent b) didn’t give a eff about luxury tax. cubes a spender, abe pollin is a spender and the guy in cleveland is a spender. wiz don’t make sense and cavs don’t want/need him.

  • B. Long Posted: Apr.9 at 1:30 pm
    Um,Z, didn’t the Cavs try and trade for him at the break? I think that means they want him.

  • B. Long Posted: Apr.9 at 1:30 pm
    I hope Shaq ends up with the Thunder or the Bobcats.

  • donlaker Posted: Apr.9 at 1:42 pm
    good luck coach cuban, finding a place for shaq
    to take a shower, because his funk is overwhelming

  • Z Posted: Apr.9 at 1:53 pm
    you know what b. long, you’re absolutely right they did try to trade for him. no clue why they wanted to do that, though.

  • Anton Posted: Apr.9 at 2:04 pm
    Shaq’s quickly becoming that girl in high school that was wildly popular in grades 8-11 but now that everyone’s banged her, she’s a desperate attention whore who wants the spotlight one more time before her looks disappear just like her integrity did.

  • [...] Slam Online puts it, why do we get the feeling that Shaq wants to leave Phoenix and join the Mavs a little more [...]

  • Jason Posted: Apr.9 at 2:55 pm
    If cuban wants to get in good with Shaq, maybe he should help Shaq find a real agent….oops, I mean ethical agent! And get his attorney brother to help settle suits….

  • [...] Cuban answers the Shaq [...]

  • Orlando Green Posted: Apr.9 at 3:54 pm
    Why would Shaq want to go to a team this will never win a chip. Assuming he doesnt go back to the Lakers he needs to head to Cleveland along with JKidd. JKidd and Bron-Bron seem to have Juwan Howard/Chris Webber (Bullets)type connection. ESP on the bball court!!

  • mdshuai33 Posted: Apr.9 at 4:42 pm
    Chiqo: Dirk under-performs? He’s currently 4th in the league in scoring and is usually the only guy on the team to consistently have an impact on games. That don’t sound like under-performing to me.

  • BETCATS Posted: Apr.9 at 5:10 pm
    This is just Mark Cuban using a stolen script unaired episode of Bromance. Episode Title: Stiring things up: Shaq Style

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: Apr.9 at 5:21 pm
    Would the Suns really trade for Erick Dampier? Because it’s either that or the weirdest twin tower lineup of all time.

  • Tuomas Posted: Apr.9 at 7:37 pm
    Sorry I’m late, but: …

  • Shu Posted: Apr.9 at 8:30 pm
    So in Cuban related news, he thinks attaining CP3 is possible due to NOH’s financial woes. Rediculous? But the owners tried to move Chandler for expiring contracts and economy’s only goin down hill.. link: http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/getting-chris-paul-could-be-plan-a-for-m.html

  • Jacob Posted: Apr.9 at 10:24 pm
    did you all see his new twitter picture? hahahaha its hilarious

  • Quail Posted: Apr.9 at 10:32 pm
    shaq for damp, JET, and a draft pick. that would be a good trade if their salaries allow it.

  • about shaq Posted: Apr.10 at 4:38 am
    shaq only has a few more years in him, if i was shaq my mentality is getting the biggest contract as i could, while im still in the league, and save up as much i can before i retire… mark cuban is one of the richest owner of the nba of course he would loved to be his friend.. i can understand he want BIG contract just as Big as his butt…

  • DJR Posted: Apr.10 at 11:13 am
    If Suns trade Superman The First they’re going to want a young replacement to run with Amare & J-Rich – someone like Josh Howard or Jet – and I just don’t see Cubes dealing them away. Shaq doesn’t need the money, he wants one last chip – I see him trying to push to go with Lakers, Cavs or ATL. And he needs to be open to the idea he may come off the bench!!

  • Caleb Posted: Apr.10 at 12:16 pm
    Hornets are not going to let go of CP3… that would kill the Hornets franchise. No matter how much trouble the Hornets got in dropping CP would only make matters worse. The fans would turn on the franchise in a heartbeat. I know *I* would. That Dallas article calls it “a realistic scenario for next season”.. uh, no, it isn’t.

  • a_whiteman Posted: Apr.10 at 4:20 pm
    Mdshuai33… I understand what your saying about dirk. Ppl on this site just look at what happened that 1 series vs g state and judge the big german. Easily one of the top 5 pfs in the league rite now and a shoe-in for the hall. But, no credit for him!

  • nba-jersey-king Posted: Apr.11 at 3:40 am
    Oh well, get ready for Shaq to trash Amare and Nash on the way out, and suck up Dirk’s ass for a few months saying he is the ideal frontcourt partner, and then… miss the playoffs

  • Scout Posted: Apr.11 at 10:35 pm
    Big has become a 7’2″, 320-pound frontrunner. Some of the dumbest stuff I heard from the NBA talking heads this year was about how the Lakers didn’t want Phoenix in the first round. Maybe they didn’t notice–LA has beaten the Suns four out of five since Shaqtus arrived there. I’m still trying to figure out why Steve Kerr decided that the the single worst post defender of the pick-and-roll of this era was going to be the key to improving the Suns’ defense. Big–quit trying to draw attention. Accept who you are now–and remember, when Wilt, Russ, Nate, Kareem, Issel and Willis were around, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST ANOTHER CENTER.

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