In the two-plus years since Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, the team has made the NBA Finals, traded superstar Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and lucked into drafting Cooper Flagg with the top pick in last year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
Had Cuban known how things would have played out, he says he still would have sold the Mavericks \u2014 just not to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law, Las Vegas Sands CEO Patrick Dumont.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t regret selling,\u201d Cuban said in an appearance on the Intersections podcast<\/a>. \u201cI regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuban sold the Mavericks at a $3.5 billion valuation in December 2023. At the time, Cuban said he believed he would still have significant input in basketball decisions. He told reporters<\/a> then, \u201cNothing\u2019s really changed except my bank account.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuban still owns a 27 percent stake in the franchise. When the Mavericks traded Don\u010di\u0107 to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in February 2025, it became clear general manager Nico Harrison was shaping Dallas\u2019 roster and that Cuban\u2019s influence had waned. The Don\u010di\u0107-for-Anthony-Davis swap sparked intense fan backlash.<\/p>\n Harrison was fired in November<\/a> 2025 amid the Mavericks\u2019 3-8 start to this season. A few months later, in February, the Mavericks traded Davis<\/a> to the Washington Wizards while Davis was out with a left hand injury \u2014 the fourth injury he\u2019d suffered in his year-long stint in Dallas.<\/p>\n Cuban still attends the majority of home games even though the team has a 12-28 record since the start of 2026 and has been outside the postseason picture most of the season. He typically sits on the baseline near the Mavericks\u2019 bench.<\/p>\n Once the Mavericks\u2019 season concludes in April, Dumont, the Mavericks\u2019 governor, has several big decisions to make.<\/p>\n The Mavericks need to hire a permanent lead basketball decision-maker to build out the roster around Flagg (Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi have served as co-interim general managers since Harrison\u2019s firing). The Mavericks have said they want someone in place ahead of the draft in June. Dallas will likely control a top-10 pick and own the Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s first-rounder, likely selection No. 29 or 30. Because of moves the Mavericks made to strengthen their roster around Don\u010di\u0107, they don\u2019t have control of their first-round pick after this year until 2031.<\/p>\n By July, Mavericks officials have also said they\u2019ll decide on a site to build a new arena. The team plans to vacate the American Airlines Center once its lease expires there in 2031.<\/p>\n Cuban told Intersections hosts Tom Leppert and Kyle Waldrep that the \u201cemotional commitment\u201d of being a majority owner was one of the reasons he sold.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear the passion and everything,\u201d Cuban said. \u201cNow imagine going up and down like that every single game. That\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuban added that he didn\u2019t want his children to become involved with the Mavericks.<\/p>\n \u201cMy kids, they were coming of age where they would have the mindset that they want to work at the Mavs,\u201d Cuban said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want them to. If fans don\u2019t like what you\u2019re doing or the team\u2019s not doing well, you\u2019re the worst human being on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n