Mark Cuban’s basketball control of Mavericks is not in writing as team is sold

NBA

By Ryan Glasspiegel

There is some murkiness as to how long Mark Cuban will stick around with the Mavericks.

Last month, the bombshell news broke that Cuban would be selling the majority stake in the NBA franchise to a group led by Dr. Miriam Adelson, the widow of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

The sale was finalized Wednesday.

While it was previously reported that Cuban would retain control of the basketball operations, the duration of that arrangement does not appear to be set in stone.

Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein reported Wednesday that “Mark Cuban has been promised ongoing control of basketball operations with the Mavericks. Yet the sale agreement that establishes the Adelson and Dumont families as Dallas’ majority owners does not contain specific language about Cuban’s role.”

Cuban, Stein added, retained a 27 percent stake in the franchise.

ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon followed up with a tweet attributing Cuban’s confirmation of this report.

“Mark Cuban acknowledged that Patrick Dumont will have ‘final say’ as the Mavs’ governor. But Cuban says he will run basketball ops with [the] sole goal of winning,” MacMahon tweeted.

Dumont is the president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, the casino chain controlled by the Adelson family.

The Mavericks’ sale was particularly stunning given how much of Cuban’s identity has been tied up in ownership of the franchise since he purchased it in 2000.

Until the news broke, one would have thought that the team would be passed through his family from generation to generation, as is the case with many other franchises in professional sports.

The reported plan for the ownership group is to set their sights on building an entertainment complex, including a new casino and arena, if and when gambling becomes legalized in the state of Texas.