Arguably no team in the NBA has had a more dramatic 2025 so far than the Dallas Mavericks. The front office traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers right under Mark Cuban's nose. In the aftermath of the blockbuster deal, Cuban sold a significant part of his ownership stake. Now, he is a minority owner of a team featuring Anthony Davis and rookie forward Cooper Flagg.
Cuban's new role with the Mavericks has been up in the air as the team undergoes changes. Multiple reports clashed over the details of his responsibilities. Some said that his responsibilities wouldn't change all that much. However, others said that he would not be as involved in the decision-making as in the past. The result has been confusion and mystery surrounding the team.
In order to clear things up, ESPN NBA Insiders Tim McMahon and Tim Bontemps both offered their perspective on The Hoop Collective. According to them, the owner's understanding of his new contract was that he would have control over the team. However, those reports and Cuban's interpretations are not right.
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“Mark Cuban was telling everybody who would listen that was the case, but it was not in the actual contract,” McMahon said. “And then Cuban's claim was that there was language that the NBA made them removed from the contract. And again, I'm told the language that was that ended up being removed from the contract was just that Cuban was allowed to sit in on all basketball operations meetings, not that he was in charge.”
“I heard from the beginning the idea that Mark Cuban was going to be running the team going forward was never accurate,” Bontemps added.
All eyes are on Dallas as the team prepares for the 2025-26 season. There is a lot of pressure on Davis to perform and Flagg to build on his Summer League performance. However, Cuban and the rest of the Mavericks' ownership still need to figure out how things will work moving forward.