When Mark Cuban sold the Dallas Mavericks, now nearly two years ago, it was a genuine shock to those around the league given he was undoubtedly the most passionate — and vocal — owner in the NBA. Even league commissioner Adam Silver was surprised after Cuban sent an email in October 2022 informing him of his intention to sell the team a year prior to the deal actually happening.
Since Cuban sold the Mavericks in November 2023, the team has experienced some incredible highs, like making the 2024 NBA Finals, and some rock bottom moments, like the shocking decision last February to trade franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic — a move Cuban said never would have occurred had he still had a majority stake in the team.
In many ways, Cuban selling the team became an inflection point for the Mavericks, though he doesn’t regret the decision to do so. He does, however, regret not putting the team on the open market for sale.
“I don’t regret selling the team, I regret how I did it,” Cuban said during an appearance on the DLLS Mavs podcast. “Would I still sell the team? Yes, for all the same reasons I’ve said 100 times. Would I do it the same way? Absolutely not. I would have put it out to bid, but I didn’t so it doesn’t matter.”
If Cuban put the Mavericks on the open market things would’ve certainly gone differently. Perhaps Miriam Adelson would’ve have been the one to purchase the team, and someone else would’ve swooped in with an even bigger offer. If that were the case, perhaps there would have been a world in which Dončić is still a member of the Mavs.
But things would’ve gone differently had Cuban retained control of basketball operations, like he said he was led to believe at the time of the sale, too. Though he didn’t want to discuss it too deeply, Cuban said that he kept a 27% stake in the Mavericks intentionally because you need at least a 15% stake to remain governor of the team. When official news of the sale broke, there was nothing written in the Mavericks’ statement that suggested Cuban would have control over the basketball side of the business, something he said the league office is to blame for.
“I did have it in writing,” Cuban said. “… Like I said before, there was a clause in there that gave me the right to be in every meeting, every trade discussion, everything, and the NBA took that out.”
Silver has said publicly that, “Any decision as to what Mark’s role would be in basketball operations was a function of an arrangement to be made between Mark Cuban and Patrick [Dumont].” Silver added that what was presented to the board of governors made it clear that Dumont would run basketball operations, not Cuban.
Cuban said he can show where he has it in writing that he was to remain in control of basketball operations, and specifically that the NBA made them remove that clause.
“Who the hell do you think took it out?,” Cuban said. “I’ve got a letter from my lawyer saying the NBA made us remove it.”
When asked why he didn’t press harder to figure out why it was removed, Cuban expressed zero interest in going back down that road.
“I don’t give a f— at this point, it’s done, I signed the contract,” Cuban said. “There’s nothing I can do at this point in time to change any of it, so what’s the point?”
Though Cuban was transparent about the whole ordeal, he didn’t want to keep talking about the sale or how things went down. He said he still has a good relationship with the Adelsons and Dumont. Cuban tried to alleviate fans concerns about the new ownership, saying Dumont wants to ensure the Mavericks can win a championship. Though when asked if he still has the same level of communication with Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, who was the mastermind behind the Dončić trade, Cuban succinctly said, “No.”
It sounds as though there’s still some unresolved feelings about how the Dončić trade unfolded, but Cuban seems content in looking forward and focusing on the suddenly bright future now that they’ve landed Cooper Flagg with the top pick in this year’s draft.
