Mark Cuban Booed Derek Fisher in His Return to Dallas


Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has never hidden his distaste for the way Derek Fisher signed on with the OKC Thunder shortly after leaving the Mavs to supposedly spend more time with his family. Last night, Cuban joined the booing chorus last night for Fisher’s return to Dallas. Per the Star-Telegram: “In particular because when he hadn’t been picked up, he called me multiple times asking for advice,’ Cuban said before Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. ‘So it wasn’t like we just signed him or called up his agent and said, ‘Would you like to come play for the Mavs? Are you interested?’ He was pitching me and calling me and asking me for advice and emailing me a lot. It’s that kind of attitude, because I really tried to help him out, and then to have him pull this stuff.’ The ‘stuff’ Cuban was referring to was a relationship with Fisher that didn’t end well. The Mavs signed Fisher to a free-agent contract on Nov. 29, and then his request for a release was granted on Dec. 22 when he said he missed his family a few days after he sustained a knee injury. But 65 days later, Fisher signed a contract with the Thunder, the team with which he finished last season. The Mavs felt Fisher was just chasing another title and concocted a story to leave town because he didn’t think the Mavs were going to win this season’s championship. […] ‘My personality is to try and help somebody, particularly somebody that I thought one thing about, even if it didn’t turn out to be that way,’ Cuban said. ‘And so I was just trying to be nice and help. But usually when you help somebody, you expect some semblance of loyalty back. When you don’t get it, then it’s more disappointing.’ … ‘I shouldn’t have been surprised what happened, but I took a liking to him; I tried to offer him some help,’ he said. ‘I thought I offered him some positive encouragement and advice, and then we signed him. So I expected a different turnout than what happened, and so that’s the way it goes. I have my big boy pants on, and that’s the NBA.’ Fisher said that once he cleared his mind after leaving the Mavs, there was no way he was going to pass up a chance to return to the Thunder. ‘I felt like this opportunity presented itself, and I wanted to take it,’ Fisher said. ‘I felt like it was a great opportunity.'”