[Dallas41]

DALLAS - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on Thursday wisely addressed the elephant in the MFFL room, the relationship between young stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, both acknowledging its "dust-up'' nature and downplaying its long-term significance.

"On the court they are fine,'' Cuban said in a 105.3 The Fan visit on "K&C Masterpiece.'' "That's not to say their aren't dust-ups, because there are. I'd compare it to Jet and Dirk.''

It's a sort of open secret inside the Mavs that Doncic, 22, and Porzingis, 25, are not the fast friends they were when they initially became teammates two seasons ago. But Cuban's parallel to "Jet and Dirk'' is a key one. It was 16 years ago when Jason "Jet'' Terry was acquired by the Mavs in trade. "Jet'' was a cocky, shoot-first point guard - and was the replacement for the departed Steve Nash, young Dirk's best friend in basketball.

“(Nowitzki and Terry) weren’t best friends at the beginning, but they grew to like each other and grew to be great friends and that’s just part of the process when you’ve got young kids who are growing up," Cuban said. “It took forever before Dirk and Jet did anything off the court together. A long time.''