Mat Ishbia isn’t the first NBA owner who’s tried to pay players to participate in the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.
Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban tells Front Office Sports he “offered the same thing years ago,” but was shut down by the league.
“Was told it would be tampering,” Cuban said in an email. He added that he wanted to “put in money to make it attractive to players to participate.”
Cuban did not clarify the exact time he pitched the league, but said it was a conversation he had with David Stern, the former NBA commissioner whose 30-year tenure ended in Feb. 2014. Cuban was the Mavericks majority owner from 2000 to 2023, before selling his majority stake to Miriam Adelson.
Dallas hosted NBA All-Star Weekend once during Cuban’s tenure as team governor, in 2010, although Cuban told FOS he tried to sweeten the pot in a different year.
The NBA has struggled to attract big names to the Slam Dunk Contest for years. Keshad Johnson, the winner of the 2026 competition, has played in less than 40 games in his two-year career after going undrafted in 2024.
Ishbia’s Suns are hosting All-Star Weekend next year. Pat McAfee asked the mortgage billionaire on Wednesday if he would offer a $1 million as a prize for the winners of the 2027 Slam Dunk and 3-Point Contest. The prize would also come with $1 million donations to a charity of the winner’s choice.
“Done,” Ishbia said Wednesday on The Pat McAfee Show. “Let’s get the best guys in it. Let’s make it awesome.” Asked whether he would need to run it by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Ishbia said: “I’m sure Silver would be supportive.”
ESPN reported that Ishbia’s idea “would not conform with the existing bonus structure” agreed by the league and its players union .
The NBA CBA states that the winner of the Slam Dunk contest would receive $100,000, and all four participants receive at least $20,000. The 3-Point Contest champion receives $60,000, while all eight participants receive at least $10,000. Any changes would have to be collectively bargained.
