Mavericks’ Rick Carlisle and Donnie Nelson depart: What’s next for Mark Cuban?

The Dallas Mavericks have been a model of stability among NBA franchises.

Front-office executive Donnie Nelson joined the team in 1998, and Rick Carlisle had been the coach since 2008. Those are lifetimes for NBA executives and coaches. And Mark Cuban has been the owner since 2000.

That stability crumbled in less than a week as the Mavericks parted ways with Nelson and Carlisle decided to walk away from a team that features Luka Doncic, the 22-year-old MVP-caliber star.

Now, Cuban faces his most important decisions as owner: hiring a new basketball operation chief and a new coach while keeping Doncic happy.

Also at the center of the palace intrigue: Haralabos Voulgaris, a former professional gambler who the Mavs hired as director of quantitative research and development in 2018. He came to the Mavericks with a knowledge of analytics, strategic insight, detailed information on referees and a presence on NBA Twitter.

Rick Carlisle stepped down after 13 seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, even though the Mavericks have a franchise player in Luka Doncic. (Photo: Harry How, Getty Images)

If there's such a thing as a front-office depth chart, Voulgaris would have been listed fourth – behind Nelson,the GM and president of basketball operations; assistant general manager Keith Grant; and vice president of basketball operations and former NBA player Michael Finley, who may get a shot to replace Nelson.

A series of stories this week in The Athletic described a front office where Voulgaris had a growing influence on basketball decisions yet a tense relationship with Doncic, and Nelson had a waning influence.

The story even suggested Voulgaris was “initiating transactions, dictating rotations, and even frustrating Luka,” a claim Cuban denied on Twitter, saying it was “total (expletive).” Still, those within the Mavericks organization concede that Voulgaris’ role increased in the past two seasons. So much that Voulgaris even sat in on coaches’ meetings, though it is not clear to what extent he had a say over rotations and personnel moves, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal operations.

Nonetheless, within days of The Athletic's stories, Nelson and Carlisle were out. In a statement, Carlisle, who led the Mavs to a title in 2011, said he had "a number of in-person conversations with Mark Cuban over the last week." Obviously, the nature of those conversations impacted Carlisle's decision to walk away from coaching a generational talent in Doncic.

SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Scott Gleeson breaks down the top names to know in the upcoming 2021 NBA draft.

USA TODAY

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