"Dispelling all the nonsense" - Mark Cuban shuts down allegations of cap circumvention through Dirk Nowitzki movie with conclusive evidence

For years, NBA fans had a conspiracy theory about Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks.

And with Mark Cuban defending Steve Ballmer in the alleged salary cap circumvention scheme with Kawhi Leonard, those theories of Mark Cuban paying Nowitzki under the table resurfaced.

Fans said that Cuban, who owned the Mavericks at the time, overpaid for the distribution rights of Nowitkzi's documentary back in 2014.

With that in mind, Pablo Torre, who had Cuban on his podcast, dug deep into the accusations. He found out that Cuban's company only paid $100,000 over ten years for the rights, which clearly wasn't much:

Explore the NBA Draft 2024 with our free NBA Mock Draft Simulator & be the GM of your favorite NBA team.

"I thank you for dispelling all the nonsense," Cuban said.

Further down the episode, the business mogul explained what actually went down in the negotiations with Dirk. Ultimately, it was a good deal that made sense for both parties, as it was similar to what Tim Duncan was getting with the San Antonio Spurs:

“He wanted Tim Duncan money. The cap was $58 million three years in a row. It wasn’t going up, and it was about how do you manage your cap?” he explained. “Tim Duncan had done a three-for-30 deal and I vividly remember having the conversation. He’s like, ’I’d like to get Tim Duncan money,’ and I’m like, ‘Dirk, the cap stayed flat. Here’s what we want to do,’ and he said, ‘OK.’”

Nowitzki wound up staying with the organization for the remainder of his career.

Mark Cuban talks about Jalen Brunson's deal with the Knicks

Notably, Cuban's Mavericks were actually on the wrong end of a shady business. The New York Knicks were found guilty of tampering in their pursuit of Jalen Brunson in free agency when he still played for the Mavericks.

Then again, when asked whether the Knicks also circumvented the cap to get Brunson at the time, the business mogul didn't want to make any accusations:

“I don’t know,” Cuban said. “I just think there were a lot of things at play there." “Was I happy they only got dinged for a second-round pick? No. No, I wasn’t. It should have been far worse, but it is what it is.”

The league is currently going through everything that happened between Kawhi Leonard's camp, the Clippers, and a now-bankrupt company called Aspiration, and if found guilty, it would be the largest and most blatant case of salary cap circumvention in professional sports history.

Edited by Ernesto Cova