Mark Cuban Angry Over New Orleans Trade

Mark Cuban is not happy about his team taking on any new players. Not the Dallas Mavericks, the first team he owns, but the New Orleans Hornets. Cuban, along with the 28 other owners in the league, is a part owner of the team since the NBA bought it from George Shinn earlier this year.

So why is Cuban so mad about the team trading for Carl Landry? It's not because Landry is a bad player, but rather because the Hornets are taking on additional debt in by completing the transaction. Gone from the Hornets is Marcus Thornton, who is making less that $800,000 a year, and in his place is Landry's $3,000,000. The Hornets are on the hook for the money that Landry is owed the rest of the season.

According to sources, other teams were interested in getting Landry from the Sacramento Kings. This means that New Orleans had to offer a deal that was better than anything else. For a team that is on a budget, it would seem counter productive to spend on an additional player. Some of Cuban's ire could be motivated by the fact that the Hornets and Mavericks play in the same division and could possibly meet in the playoffs.