Mark Cuban says he wouldn't be surprised if young NBA stars, like Luka Doncic, played into their 40s -- thanks to new medical technology that can prevent non-contact injuries ... and he's dead serious.
The Dallas Mavericks owner was super passionate about the new wave of injury prevention technology outside Craig's in L.A. this week ... especially after the NBA Finals, with injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
"Those are brutal, I feel really horrible for those guys," Cuban said.
But, in the future, Cuban sees a league where players can use tech to prepare their bodies to handle the rigors of pro basketball.
"There's new technology, sonogram-type stuff that allows you to analyze tendons," Cuban said ... "But, it's not advanced enough so we have to do some more research to figure it all out. So hopefully, that in the future, non-contact injuries will happen less."
Cuban says when he came into the league 20 years ago, players crossing the 30-year-old mark were considered old and on the decline ... but now, that's changing radically.
"We saw Dirk [Nowitzki] play until 40 years, 21 years [in the NBA] ... we'll see more that. Luka [Doncic] coming into the league today, the rookies that will get drafted this year that are 18, there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to play 25 years if they have the skill with the new advanced technology."
So, will 45 really be the new 30 in the NBA? We'll see.