Matt Barnes blasts Mavs ownership for not giving out bonuses to their employees: “It’s another representation of bad business” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Dallas Mavericks owners Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons. The latest case is that of unpaid dues, with employees yet to receive their customary bonuses after making the Finals in 2024, leading to heavy backlash.
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With one red flag after another, the new Mavs’ ownership cannot seem to get it right, as they have already been under heavy scrutiny due to the Luka Doncic trade. In what has always been an NBA tradition, whenever a franchise made the playoffs, its employees were rewarded with this bonus. A gesture acknowledging the extra work, long hours and dedication during the additional 2.5 months of the playoffs.
Shedding light on the matter during a recent episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast, Matt Barnes criticized the Adelson-Dumont management for breaking an age-old custom.
“Another thing that came out recently, that the Mavs workers were stiffed playoff bonuses, which normally goes around the league. It’s tradition, playoff money gets cut up, staff gets money. Then players, we cut our playoff money up and pay the people we need to pay. But it was recently reported that Mavs stiffed people on playoff bonuses, which is another representation of bad business.” stated Barnes, sending out a clear message to new management, who recently drafted the No.1 pick Cooper Flagg.
Former content vice president made serious allegations
Mike Marshall, who served as the VP of content for Mavericks for seven years, made some serious revelations. Parting ways with the organization recently, he dropped multiple truth bombs about the Adelson-Dumont management.
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“99 out of 100 times that an NBA team has gone to the playoffs or Finals, they have gotten playoff bonuses. We worked for two and a half extra months. It was addressed as if it was going to happen. It was stated that it was going to happen, and then it didn’t get ultimately approved,” revealed the former Mavs executive, hinting at how the new regime was unprepared and unaware when it came to running a sports franchise.
He further divulged how most of the recently hired top positions on the Mavs had zero experience working with a sports franchise. All of the stated observations were a stark difference from the previous ownership of Mark Cuban, who made hundreds of Mavericks employees millionaires when he sold the franchise in 2023.
Mark Cuban distributed $35M in bonuses
Cuban, one of the most expressive NBA owners, was unabashed when it came to supporting his team, the Mavericks. He often got into trouble for it as well, but didn’t mind paying the fines. As far as his role as a boss goes, he ensured employees were fairly rewarded for their hard work.
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“I’m not there without them; I did it with my first two companies… and I wanted to do the same with the Mavs. They were there for me the whole time; it was enough money that for those who were there 20 years or more, it was life-changing money,” said Cuban, who had purchased the Mavs for $285 million in 2000 and sold the majority stake for $3.5 billion.
Cuban certainly knew how to make his workforce feel recognized for their efforts. Making everyone feel valued, no matter their stature in the organization. Unfortunately, things have gone completely south since the new ownership took over in 2023. There surely seems to be a lack of business understanding on the part of the Adelson-Dumont administration when it comes to running an NBA franchise.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.