Mark Cuban was asked on Tuesday how close the Mavericks were to acquiring Shaquille O'Neal from the Lakers when he was dealt to Miami in the summer of 2004.

''About as close as I was to getting the lead in the Ray Charles movie,'' Cuban said. ``It wasn't close at all. They weren't going to trade him to a Western Conference team.''

Cuban knew O'Neal wanted to play for Dallas, among other teams.

''It was a compliment [that he wanted to play in Dallas],'' Cuban said. ``Shaq is obviously a dominant player and has proved that where he is at now.

"It was something we certainly tried to do. We had a lot of players and draft picks [to offer], and we tried to sell [the Lakers] on the perspective that yeah, maybe you have a down year, but then in a couple of years out, you have cap room. They weren't buying it, and the response was, `There's nothing on your roster that we want.' . . . It was about a two-minute conversation.''