Former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban doesn’t regret his decision to sell a large portion of his stake in the team but wishes he’d have opened up the process, he stated during an interview on the DLLS podcast (hat tips to Jasmyn Wimbish of CBSSports.com and Tim Cato of AllDllls.com).
“I don’t regret selling the team, I regret how I did it,” Cuban said. “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.”
Mavericks are now primarily owned by Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont, her son-in-law and the team’s governor.
Dumont’s role as team governor wasn’t in Cuban’s plans. Cuban kept a 27% stake in the Mavericks intentionally, since a part owner needs at least a 15% stake to remain governor of the team. When the sale was made official, there was nothing to indicate Cuban would continue his role in running the team’s basketball operations. He blames the league for losing his governor title.
“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.”
Commission Adam Silver denied earlier this year that it was a league decision.
“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,” Silver said in March.
But Cuban reiterated during the podcast that the league was to blame.
“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.”
However, Cuban says he has a good relationship with Dumont.
“I still talk to (him) a fair amount,” Cuban said. “He does care. And he cares when we lose. He’s spending time to learn. He’s learn a ton in time. Now I can talk to him about analytics. I can talk to him about our roster.”
However, Cuban says he doesn’t stay in contact with general manager Nico Harrison, who made the controversial trade that sent fan favorite and franchise player Luka Doncic to the Lakers. Cuban made it known publicly shortly after the trade occurred that he had no say in the matter and was against the idea of dealing Doncic.
“We all were hurt when Luka got traded — me as much as anyone, because I felt like I let people down by not being there,” Cuban said. “But what’s done is done. And we got Cooper (Flagg) — the basketball gods were looking down on us and he’s the real deal.”
The entire interview with Cuban can be accessed here.
Maybe buy back in, Take over again, trade Flagg for Luka, win another championship and then make a movie or an documentary
If he has a letter from his lawyer saying the nba made him remove it and he is so passionate about it, he could make that letter public
Mavs sure are fond of not opening up the bidding.
Huh? What? That is a weird statement.
Umm, Nico traded Luka to the Lakers without allowing the rest of the league bid on him:
Lol
When teams make trades, they know what they need and what they are willing to give up, which narrows it down. Not many teams have what it takes to land Luka. Given the CBA rules, that narrows it down even more. So, why waste your time going to the whole league.
What? Yeah OK.
Why waste your time going around the whole league? Because they should have gotten 4 firsts and 3 pick swaps along with a player of ADs caliber.
Whoooosh
Guess it runs in the organization
Never listen to a shark
Instead we should listen to you, right? SMH!!!
D-bag can’t stop d-baggin’.
Mark from Cuba showing he made it through shear luck once again…
And that he has a fondness for disgusting humans…
He sold the Mavs to two of the biggest pieces of garbage, Adelsons. Congrats Cuban. Dumping Luka is what you deserve.
Yeah Mark pulling the ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.
Adam freaking Silver, lols. How strange Luka was never offered to anyone but the lakers. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the no.1 pick. Unless of course you believe some lottery that we never actually seen with our own eyes was legit, lols. Dude just came out with an envelope ‘ yeah this is what happened’.
I met the tooth fairy last night. She road in on a unicorn.
Funny thing about that is I tend believe you did think you actually sore this. You telling me that draft process was legit? Lols. We already had the lottery and this is what happened. Trust us, the envelopes don’t lie.
I wish this guy would go away
You did let everyone down, Mark. You sold out, gave in, gave up, and when the fit the shan, you blamed fans for being angry or upset.
But isn’t he the smartest guy he’s ever met?!?