Never one to hold back, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has again found himself in the public eye.
This time, it’s for apparently taking somewhat of an exception to Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson’s musings on the impact of Caron Butler’s season-ending knee injury on the Mavs.
“He just leaves a vacuum that’s going to be very hard for them to fill,” Jackson said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Cuban used Jackson’s offerings as an opportunity to joke about the coach’s romantic relationship with Lakers owner Jerry Buss’ daughter, Jeanie, who is also the team’s vice president of business operations.
“I love that Jeanie Buss’ boy-toy had something to say about us,” Cuban said, according to ESPN.com. “I don’t know if it was his thought or Jeanie’s thought, but it’s nice to know that she lets him speak in public about other teams.”
Jackson, 65, took Cuban’s remarks in stride, saying, “I love it, I consider myself an old man. To hear that I’m a boy-toy? That’s terrific.”
Buss thought Cuban could have come up with a better comeback.
The comments may have lightened the mood for both teams, as neither has had much to joke about lately. The Lakers have dropped four of their last seven, and the Mavs are now without their third-leading scorer (15.0 points per game) for the remainder of the season and have a banged up Dirk Nowitzki (sprained right knee) to top it off.
