Mark Cuban Getting an Early Jump on NBA Trash Talk

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is discounting the moves made by the Los Angeles Lakers and wants everyone to know that the Mavs aren't exactly shaking in their boots over Dwight Howard and Steve Nash joining L.A. Cuban pointed to the failure of the Lakers to win a championship in the 2004 season when Karl Malone and Gary Payton joined Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. ESPN reports that Cuban was talking to his season ticket holders when he said this:

It takes great chemistry. ... It takes guys wanting to be there. I don't know if all their guys want to be there.

I'm sure Cuban is trying to fire his own team and fan base up, but maybe that isn't the best way.

Cuban took another shot at the Lakers, but couched it as a compliment to his Championship winning team from two years ago.

Look, they're going to have a great team, but I remember when we made our run, we weren't supposed to win any series. Remember the Lakers were the defending champs, and we swept them and they had everybody back.

That's true, hard to say anything about that. But this Lakers team is going to be a much different animal. I'm all for some good trash talk and this NBA season is going to be a good one. Cuban wasn't done though.

A lot of teams do a great job of winning the summer, but I never get so antsy about what happens over the summer. I just want to know what happens during the season. As long as we keep on getting better and we're healthy going into the playoffs, then anything can happen.

Again, he's mostly right, anything can happen. One thing that won't happen is the Mavericks making a serious run at the NBA title next season.