When Mark Cuban sold the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson/Dumont families, he told various media outlets that he would retain control of basketball operations "forevermore." The Adelson family was expected to concentrate on the business side of the Mavericks with their goal of legalizing gambling in Texas and to build a casino resort in the Dallas area. But Nico Harrison was given more power and Cuban's role with the Mavericks was diminished by their playoff run.
Cuban's influence with the Mavericks had reached the point where he was not involved in the process of trading Luka Doncic in any way. As more time has passed since the Mavericks' trade of Doncic, Cuban has become more outspoken about his displeasure with the move.
“Actually I fully expected to run basketball,” Cuban replied. “The NBA wouldn’t let me put it in the contract. They took it out,” Cuban wrote about his sale to the Adelson family. “I thought they would stick to their word because they didn’t know the first thing about running a team. Someone obviously changed their mind.”
