Mark Cuban Trash Talks LA Lakers - Hopes 'They Suck Forever'- Offers Advice To New LA Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer

Never one to shy away from a controversial statement, billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has taken shots at the L.A. Lakers, trashing the NBA's glamour team in an LA radio interview. On the same day as the Lakers finally got their second win of the season, with Kobe Bryant and his 28 points leading the team to a 114-109 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Atlanta, Cuban said of the Lakers "I just hope they suck forever."

On the day Kobe became only the fourth player ever to score more than 32,000 career points, and Lakers moved to 2-9 for the season, ESPN reports that Cuban spoke on The Fred Roggin Show on LA radio station The Beast 980 to trash the Lakers strategy of tanking and clearing out cap space in a futile chase for free agents over the past two seasons.  

"As far as the Lakers," Cuban said, "I think there are going to be a lot of teams that are going to be focusing and saying, 'Look, I've got a ton of cap room, free agents A, B and C, why don't you guys come together and come play for me?' And L.A. has always been considered a destination, so maybe they feel there's a valid strategy. 

"You know me, Fred. Personally, I just hope they suck forever."

Cuban, whose Mavericks are 8-3 in the super-competitive Western Conference, has eschewed tanking in his time owning the team; of course, Cuban has also had Dirk Nowitzki for that entire time, while the Lakers are stuck with an aging Bryant and little else. 

Cuban also took on L.A.'s other team, delivering six pieces of advice for new Clippers owner, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In a piece for AdWeek, Cuban tells Ballmer that if he thought dealing with the media was tough at Microsoft, then he's in for a shock, saying "Apple fan boys were bad. But NBA bloggers are worse." 

Cuban - who also made his billions in the tech market - also lets Ballmer know that the responsibilities of owning a sports franchise are very different to being in charge of a corporation, saying "Leading Microsoft is nothing like owning a major sports team. You don't own the team; Clippers fans everywhere do."

He adds that in between bigger time commitments for the LA community, Ballmer will have to adjust to losing, but that he should ensure that he does all he can to win. 

After all, says Cuban, the rewards of winning are amazing. "No city ever threw a ticker-tape parade for Microsoft," he says. "All cities throw parades for NBA champions."