Mark Cuban hasn’t exactly hidden his feelings about the direction of the Dallas Mavericks since he sold his majority equity of the franchise in 2023.
In an interview on a forthcoming episode of Front Office Sports’ “Portfolio Players” podcast, Cuban admitted he tried to buy his way back into majority ownership from the Adelson family.
“What happened was a bunch of people had contacted me; they weren’t happy with the way things were,” Cuban told FOS. “And I was like, ‘Look, if you can get them to sell, I would be more than happy to contribute my equity, et cetera, et cetera, and help.’ But I didn’t expect that to materialize. I told them I didn’t think it would happen, that I didn’t think the Adelsons had any interest in selling. And they don’t.”
Cuban owns 27% of the team after selling off 73% in December 2023. The Adelsons have the right to buy another 20% from Cuban within four years of their deal, which would drop his stake to 7%.
Under new majority ownership, the Mavericks traded away superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February of 2025, less than 12 months removed from an NBA Finals appearance.
“I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to,” Cuban said earlier this year in an appearance on the “Intersections” podcast. “I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”
TheSteinLine.com reported earlier this year that a group of investors wanted to partner with Cuban to seize back control from the current ownership.
“If there was any chance of being able to (buy the franchise back) anymore I would, but that’s just not the game anymore,” Cuban said.
A potential likelier outcome could be Cuban, 67, buying a different NBA team. Should that happen, though, he has some specific requirements for the team’s location.
“I wouldn’t want a cold-weather team, because flying from Dallas to where it’s freezing cold, I just couldn’t handle it,” Cuban said. “But if it was a warm-weather team I would seriously consider it.”
