Mark Cuban Pissed At Kings And Hornets Deal

"Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lambasted the NBA on Wednesday for allowing the league-owned New Orleans Hornets  to complete a trade with the Sacramento Kings in which the financially troubled franchise will absorb salary and send an undisclosed amount of cash to the Kings.New Orleans sent guard Marcus Thornton, who is earning $762,195, plus cash to Sacramento for forward Carl Landry, who is earning $3 million. The Hornets, who are over the salary cap, were able to fit Landry into a trade exception.The difference in salary is $2.24 million, of which the Hornets will be responsible for the prorated amount for the remainder of the season.“I don’t have a problem if they go dollar-for-dollar, great, more power to them,” Cuban said. “You could see if it was like a marquee guy and he’s going to bring in lots of dollars. No disrespect to Carl Landry, but I don’t see that’s the way it works. It’s just wrongCuban wouldn’t acknowledge if the Mavs had interest in acquiring the 6-foot-8 power forward, who is in the final year of his contract.Cuban said plenty of teams did have interest in Landry, though few are willing to take back salary, making the Hornets’ deal the sweetest for a struggling Sacramento franchise.“That’s the whole point,” Cuban said. “Other teams have interest in him, but not a lot of teams are going to take back money. If it’s a better deal, great. But the dollars should add up.”"

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Cuban doesn’t seem to necessarily be upset with the Kings, but more the NBA (who currently owns the Hornets) for sending cash to the Kings in the deal and taking on additional salary in the process.

I certainly understand his beef, but, there’s a limit to the amount of funds any team can send and he was able to send the same amount for Landry, had he made the decision to do so. In addition to that, the Hornets, despite being league owned still need to remain competitive. Sour grapes, me thinks.