Could Mark Cuban once again own the Dallas Mavericks?
An unidentified investor group wants to partner with Cuban and do exactly that, [reports Marc Stein at The Stein Line](https://marcstein.substack.com/p/sources-unidentified-local-investors). He reports that a group of investors — who are unnamed — “registered tangible interest in partnering with former majority owner Mark Cuban to try to buy the franchise back from the Dumont and Adelson families.” Cuban declined to comment on the report.
There are a couple of reasons this feels like not just a long shot but a non-story.
First, Miriam Adelson and her family (including team governor Patrick Dumont) have given zero indication that they want or plan to sell the team. Stein himself reports “the family remains excited about the future of the franchise and the Cooper Flagg era.” Even Cuban and other billionaires cannot buy what is not for sale.
Second is the real estate question.
When Cuban sold the franchise he was honest, saying that the NBA had become more of a real estate investment tool than the technology business it was when he bought in. Owners can now leverage the team to build a new arena, then use that anchor of people and activity to build mixed-use retail around it (or other developments). That was rumored to be the plan for the Adelsons — owners of the Las Vegas Sands corporation — who are said to want to build a resort complex with an arena part of it (and a casino, although gambling is not legal in Texas; and while Adelson has pumped money into a campaign to get gambling legalized in the state it is nowwhere close to happening).
Could the Adelson family realize the Dallas casino idea is nowhere close to happening and decide to get out of the Mavericks business? Nothing is impossible, but that seems like the kind of impatient decision that the billionaire owners tend not to make, they can be patient and play a longer game. They can wait and decide whether to build something else around a new arena. It’s not like the Mavericks’ value is going down (especially with Flagg on the roster).
Cuban still owns 27% of the Mavericks, although the Adelsons can buy 20% of that later this year, according to reports. Either way, it sounds more like Cuban will remain in his role as advisor rather than return to the role of owner.
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