During an appearance on the DLLS podcast, former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban said he stands by his decision to sell most of his team stake but wishes he had invited multiple bidders before finalizing the deal.
“I don’t regret selling the team, I regret how I did it,” Cuban said on the Aug. 26 episode. “Would I still sell the team? Yes … Would I do it the same way? Absolutely not. I would have put it out to bid.”
Cuban sold control of the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont, who now serves as team governor. Cuban retained 27 percent—well above the 15 percent threshold required to hold the governor role—but the NBA removed language that would have kept him in that position, he asserted.
“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,” he said, adding that he has correspondence from his attorney supporting the claim.
Commissioner Adam Silver stated in March that any agreement about Cuban’s future role was “a function of an arrangement to be made between Mark Cuban and Patrick.” Cuban disagreed on the podcast, saying, “Who do you think took it out?”
Although Cuban no longer governs the franchise, he described his rapport with Dumont as positive. “I still talk to him a fair amount,” he noted. “He cares when we lose … Now I can talk to him about analytics and our roster.”
Cuban said he has little contact with general manager Nico Harrison, who orchestrated the trade that sent star guard Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. Cuban publicly opposed the move at the time. “We all were hurt when Luka got traded—me as much as anyone,” he said. “But what’s done is done. We got Cooper Flagg; the basketball gods were looking down on us and he’s the real deal.”
The full interview is available on the DLLS podcast.
Source: HoopsRumors
