𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗖𝗨𝗕𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗝𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗦

Mark Cuban

It was 23 years ago, commuting into Fort Worth, when I heard squeaky-voiced Norm Hitzges report the sale of the Dallas Mavericks from real estate tycoon Ross Perot, Jr. to a 42 year old Mark Cuban for $285M, an entrepreneur who'd just sold broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7B.

Those were heady times to be a MFFL, "Mavs Fan for Life," with offense-oriented Don Nelson, Sr. as coach and baby-faced rookies Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, along with veteran Michael Finley forming the Big D version of "the Triplets" playing at Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas.

During Cuban's tenure, a new arena, American Airlines Center, was built and in 2011 an NBA championship won, but in sports there are Billionaires and there are BILLIONAIRES, and Mark Cuban just didn't spend like the Steve Ballmers of the NBA world, and was frequently viewed by fans as a penny pincher.

The perception of Cuban as a tightwad was reinforced by letting Steve Nash walk away to the Phoenix Suns for more money in 2004 and the same for Jalen Brunson in 2022, but the biggest blow to the franchise was the charge of a toxic work environment featuring a high level administrator as a sexual predator

Donnie Nelson, Jr., the longtime Mavs General Manager, became the fall guy for the toxicity, although he was the one who initially reported it and Coach Rick Carlisle tendered his resignation when Donnie was terminated. 

President Donald Trump Awarding Miriam Adelson
the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018

So now, 65 year old Cuban has declared his intention to leave Shark Tank in 2025 and sliced a piece of the Mavs pie off to Sands Hotel's Miriam Adelson for $2B, while retaining control of basketball operations as a minority owner.

Cuban states emphatically that he's not streamlining his life to run for political office.

The Cuban/Adelson cooperative views basketball as only part of a grandiose plan including a hotel, casino, a Dallas river walk, etc. should the State of Texas approve gambling.

Meanwhile, land acquisition far larger than the footprint of an arena is the priority, a massive area for lots and lots of development, perhaps even through eminent domain and taxpayer supplement, billionaire welfare as some call it.

Rumors Place the Proposed Arena/Casino Complex near the
Mavs Practice Facility at 1530 Inspiration Drive, west of I-35E