Mark Cuban to sell majority stake in Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, but keep hand in operations: Sources

By Shams Charania, Mike Vorkunov and Tim Cato

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is selling a majority stake of the franchise to Miriam Adelson and her family for a valuation in the range of $3.5 billion, league sources said. Cuban, however, will retain shares in the team and full control of basketball operations. NBA reporter Marc Stein was first to report the news of the sale.

Adelson’s prowess in real estate development with the prospect for arena development as well as launching casino gaming and entertainment in Dallas were appealing factors in Cuban’s sale, league sources said.

Adelson, the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands, announced Tuesday she was selling $2 billion worth of stock in the company. This is approximately 10 percent of her stake.

“We have been advised by the Selling Stockholders that they currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, along with additional cash on hand, to fund the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise pursuant to a binding purchase agreement, subject to customary league approvals,” Las Vegas Sands said in the SEC filing.

Miriam, born in Israel, and Sheldon, born in Boston, donated $180 million to Republican campaigns and political action committees in 2020, according to Forbes. The Adelson family owns the Israel Hayom, an Israeli daily newspaper, and the Las Vegas Review Journal, which it purchased in 2015.

Cuban purchased the Mavericks for $285 million in January 2000.

Why Cuban made the move

This transaction is as interesting as it is surprising. At a time when the NBA, and every other sports league, is leaning into sports betting, the Mavericks are being bought by the family of one of country’s largest casino tycoons, Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021. Miriam Adelson and the The Miriam Adelson Trust lead a group that owns 57 percent of Las Vegas Sand Corp., which owns and operates casinos all around the world. If approved, Adelson would become just the second woman to be the principal owner of an NBA team at this moment, along with Los Angeles Lakers’ Jeanie Buss.

This is the second basketball team the Adelson family bought this year. Matan Adelson, Miriam’s son, bought Hapoel Jerusalem, an Israeli club that also plays in EuroCup, this summer.

This transaction also ends a seemingly endless valuation climb for NBA teams. The value of teams seemed to just keep going up and to the right over the last decade. But after the Hornets were sold for $3 billion earlier this year, and a 25 percent stake in the Bucks went for a $3.5 billion valuation, and Mat Ishbia bought a majority stake in the Suns at a $4 billion valuation, the Mavericks did not top that number. It is a bit surprising because Dallas-Fort Worth is the fifth-largest media market in the country and Dallas is the ninth-biggest city by population. Not to mention that they have been recently successful and have one of the NBA’s biggest stars in Luka Doncic.

It’s also a win for Cuban, who gets to keep running basketball ops despite selling most of his shares. — Mike Vorkunov, national basketball business reporter

Cuban already handed over some front-office influence to Nico Harrison

Cuban’s identity has been so tightly intwined with the Dallas Mavericks since he purchased the team in 2000 that his decision to sell is shocking. But it’s why he’s obtained something unprecedented: continued control of basketball operations, which Cuban has long been known for.

Since Nico Harrison was hired as general manager in 2021, Cuban has been a less influential figure in front-office matters: still actively involved and aware of what’s happening but leaving more of those decisions to Harrison, who has brought a much more rigid structure to the team than it had in the past under former general manager Donnie Nelson.

We might not know what exactly Cuban’s unique arrangement means, on a functional level, until more time has passed. Perhaps there’s something else that Cuban’s decision to sell is leading to, but there’s no question that the Mavericks are now heading into an unknown future. — Tim Cato, Mavericks writer

Required reading

(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)