Cuban expects Ajinca trade to go through Monday

The Mavericks had a verbal commitment from Peja Stojakovic three weeks ago and expect the scrutinized Alexis Ajinca trade to be approved by the league office Monday.

This according to Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who gave reporters a blow-by-blow of the Stojakovic buyout and Ajinca trade after Dallas beat New Jersey 87-86 Saturday night on a rim-rattling, game-winning shot by Dirk Nowitzki.

Cuban said when Caron Butler went down with a season-ending knee injury in early January, he called Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and asked if Toronto would be interested in buying out Stojakovic, who has barely played for this season. Colangelo replied, “’We’d like to try to trade him first, but yeah,’” said Cuban, who asked for and received permission from Colangelo to speak with Stojakovic’s agent, David Bauman.

Mavs GM Donnie Nelson expressed his interest in Stojakovic to Bauman and said, “‘If you can work out a buyout with the Raptors, would you come to the Mavs?’” Cuban said. “He goes, ‘Yeah.’ So he basically had committed to us weeks ago.”

After the buyout was completed and Stojakovic was waived, Cuban said Colangelo inquired about Ajinca.

“He says, ‘What about Ajinca?’’ Cuban said. “Are you guys still interested in trading him and paying his salary?’ OK, well yes. Same amount of money, not playing a lot, so we did the trade. They were completely separate independent deals. One had nothing to do with the other. But obviously I think a lot of teams were upset because we got the jump on them. And that’s legit.

“You’re allowed to call teams,” Cuban said. “Teams are calling the Nets and saying, ‘Are you going to buy out Troy Murphy?’ … That’s just the way it works. That’s how you get what they call divorce contracts, because if he doesn’t know where he’s going to go, he doesn’t know how to do the buyout.” 

“The trade goes through and (Stojakovic) signs the contract Monday,” Cuban said. “… I expect it. I mean, it’s the NBA, but you know, that’s what I expect.”