Did Mark Cuban sell the Dallas Mavericks to avoid Luka Doncic's payday?

Luka Doncic may be getting a lot of money from the Dallas Mavericks during his next contract negotiations. A recent report actually said that because of the NBA's rising salary cap situation, Doncic could earn $367 million with his next deal if he makes another All-NBA team this season.

Just a few months ago, Mark Cuban sold his controlling interest of the Mavericks to the families of Dr. Miami Adleson and Sivian and Patrick Dumont for a cool $3.5 billion. That means that if Doncic does earn nearly $400 million from the Mavericks, Cuban won't be paying for it.

Cuban may have just avoided a massive financial bullet and some people on social media suggested that perhaps he sold his stake in the team because he saw Doncic's upcoming payday coming.

At the time of the sale, Cuban stated that he was moving on from owning the majority of the team because NBA franchises need to shift their focus to building real estate and he doesn't have a lot of experience doing that. Therefore, he wanted to join forces with a group of people who knew how to spend money and build real estate.

Cuban will still be heavily involved with the Mavericks for the foreseeable future, acting as the alternate governor and controlling basketball operations.

Chances are that the Mavericks will spend whatever they have to in order to keep Doncic. It doesn't matter how much it is, the team is very committed to their young star and is happy to spend millions to keep him.