Why Mark Cuban Sold the Dallas Mavericks When He Did

This fall will be Mark Cuban’s first full season this century in which he’s not the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. 

Billionaire Cuban sold 72.3% of the team to the Adelson family for $3.5 billion in December 2023; the new majority owner was rewarded with the franchise’s first trip to the NBA Finals since 2011, when the team won its only NBA title. 

Since the Adelsons took over the franchise, the family has lobbied for sports gambling to be legalized in Texas, which could pave the way for a casino to be built near the team’s arena, similar to what Steve Cohen is trying to do with the Mets and Citi Field’s surrounding area. (The Mavs owners include billionaire Miriam Adelson, majority owner of Las Vegas Sands, and Sivan and Patrick Dumont, Adelson’s daughter and son-in-law.)

It’s that line of thinking that propelled Cuban, who still owns 27.7% of the franchise, to sell his majority stake in the team when he did. 

“When I first bought it in 2000 I was the tech guy in the NBA,” Cuban told the All-In podcast. “I was the media guy. I had every edge and every angle. Now fast-forward 24 years later, in order to sustain growth to be able to compete with the new collective bargaining agreement, you have to have other sources of revenue. 

“And so you see other teams in all sports for that matter talking about casinos, talking about doing real estate development. That’s just not me,” the former Shark Tank star said. “I wasn’t going to put up $2 billion to get an education on building. If we’re able to build a Venetian-type casino in Dallas with an American Airlines Center in the middle of it, the valuation is $20 billion. But I own 27% of that.”

Cuban also considered estate planning in his reason behind selling the team. His three children are now 15, 18, and 21; by selling the team he “took all the pressure off of them” to make ownership a family business.