Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban admittedly regrets selling a majority stake in the NBA franchise to casino magnates Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont for $3.5 billion in 2023.
“I don’t regret selling, I regret who I sold to,” Cuban told the Intersections podcast, adding he “made a lot of mistakes in the process and I’ll leave it at that.”
The sale gave Adelson and her son-in-law, Dumont, a 73-percent controlling interest in the Mavs, while allowing Cuban to remain a minor figure in the team he came to define for many years.
The Evolution
A year ago, Cuban made a similar, but crucially different statement on another podcast.
“I don’t regret selling the team; I regret how I did it,” Cuban told the DLLS Mavs Podcast with Marc Stein and Tim Cato. “I would have put it out to bid. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t matter.”
That comment could be viewed in economic terms, given the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion and the Los Angeles Lakers received a $10 billion valuation since Cuban sold the Mavs to the Adelsons.
The Political Divide
Then there is the current state of the Mavs, who still receive Cuban’s full attention despite his reduced role in the front office. Since the sale, Dallas made the widely disparaged Luka Doncic trade with the Lakers, and while first-overall pick Cooper Flagg helped soften that blow with fans, the Mavs are headed back to the NBA Draft lottery for a second straight season after reaching the Finals in 2024.
Cuban’s recent comments about the Adelsons could also be a reference to their well-known political ties, although those were clearly defined long before the 2023 sale.
while his widow has continued his work in politics by bankrolling candidates willing to take on Iran, such as President Donald Trump.
Cuban, of course, is no fan of Trump’s after supporting Kamala Harris’ doomed White House bid in 2024. A self-identified independent, Cuban has railed against Trump’s economic policies and his integrity but never took aim at the Adelsons for donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the Republican’s 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns.
The Personal Reason
As far as his reasoning for selling the team, Cuban told the Intersections podcast this week that he was growing tired of the “emotional commitment,” adding that he didn’t want his children to face the fan abuse that comes with being an NBA owner.
The Adelsons are Trump megadonors. Cuban is a Harris supporter. And suddenly, politics is at the center of one of the biggest sales in NBA history.
Cuban says he made mistakes. He says he regrets who he sold to. But the deal is done. The Mavs are rebuilding. And Cuban is left wondering what might have been.