Why do Mavs' Fans Keep Giving Mark Cuban a Free Pass?

[Crunch 99]

Sorry if someone already wrote it, but:
**** Nico Harrisson!!

+1, but need to add a **** the Adelsons too

Cuban hired Nico; he sold to the Adelsons - non basketball people, non Dallas people, and at the time of the November '23 sale, he specifically said he would be maintaining control over basketball operations (though he did not specify for how long). And the last public statement says he still owns 27% of the team.

And with regard to rumuors that the Adelson's want to move the team to Las Vegas, by contrast, when the Millers sold the Jazz, they searched for a local buyer, Jazz fan, who agreed in the sales contract to keep the Utah Jazz in Utah.

If I were a Mavs' fan, I would give Cuban a partial pass for reason of bringing a 2011 championship (which is something we've never got in Utah), but I would give Cuban an F on his partial exit. He sold to non basketball people and left you high and dry.

From AI Grok:

Spoiler:

Yes, at the time of his sale of the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family in November 2023, Mark Cuban explicitly stated that he would maintain control over basketball operations. The deal, which was reported to be in the valuation range of $3.5 billion, involved Cuban selling a majority stake to Miriam Adelson and her family while retaining a 27% ownership share. As part of this unusual arrangement, Cuban emphasized that he would continue to oversee basketball operations, despite no longer being the majority owner or the team's governor.
Cuban described the arrangement as a "partnership," noting that the Adelson family were not "basketball people," while he lacked expertise in real estate, which was a key motivation for the sale. He told reporters before a Mavericks game against Cleveland on December 27, 2023—the day the NBA approved the sale—that he would retain operational control, saying, "It’s a partnership. They’re not basketball people. I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it." Reports from the time, including statements from Cuban and the Adelson family, consistently highlighted that he would keep full control of basketball operations, with Patrick Dumont, Adelson’s son-in-law, taking on the role of team governor and focusing on business aspects like potential real estate development.
However, Cuban did not specify a fixed "period of time" for how long he would maintain this control. The agreement was framed as an ongoing role rather than a temporary one, though later developments in 2024 suggested that his influence over basketball operations diminished, with General Manager Nico Harrison reporting directly to Dumont instead. At the time of the sale, though, Cuban’s stated intention was to remain in charge of basketball decisions without any indication of a limited duration.

[-Luke-]

If he gets a pass, he shouldn't.

[og15]

What would it matter now though? He's not the face of the team anymore, what would it change?

While Cuban is still a minority owner of the team, his role as the face for the organization has significantly diminished under the Adelsons' ownership.

"Yeah, there are parts that are not fun, obviously," he said. "Especially this month, or last month. But, y'know, they paid for that right."

Cuban told WFAA on Thursday that he remains an MFFL (Mavs Fan For Life) -- and he sounded like one when talking about the details of the Doncic trade, particularly when speaking on the paltry return the Mavericks received in exchange for their young superstar.

"If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that's one thing," Cuban said. "Just get a better deal. I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation."

https://www.wfaa.com/article/sports/nba/mavericks/mark-cuban-breaks-silence-luka-doncic-trade-dallas-mavericks-full-interview/287-23216eb6-d128-443d-9185-1694a1cd5cc1

There's a guy that understands how deals for a player like this should work.

[Homer38]

Nobody can predict the future like that....

[UcanUwill]

He is not in charge, and we know he wouldn't have done it if he was in charge. I imagine he probably could have fired Nico for even suggesting this after that man hanged out with his friend Pelinka.
He sold majority of the team, not sure why, but I can't fault person for wanting to sell, it was his property, he has right to do that.

I do not fault George Lucas for Last Jedi, just because George Lucas sold his IP to Disney...

[JujitsuFlip]

That would be like selling a classical car to someone who does not collect cars or know how to work on cars and the new owner wrecking it.

Why would you blame the previous owner of the car for the new owner wrecking it? He sold the classic car in pristine condition, maybe one dent on the bumper (2024 Finals loss).

It's not the previous owners fault the new owner got drunk, spray painted the car then drove it 100mph into a brick wall.

Sure, you can say pick a better seller but the previous owner sold the car for top dollar, it is no longer his problem, despite building the car from the ground up and loving it.

Should he have given the car to his kids? Maybe but what is done, is done.

[Crunch 99]

I am having trouble reconciling Cuban's claim from just 15 months ago that he would maintain operational control within a partnership, to now claiming he doesn't have any control and didn't know anything about this trade. Cuban has likely entered in to hundreds, if not thousands of partnerships, and would certainly know enough to specify his operational control in writing in the contract.

Personally, the only billionaire owner I would trust to fulfill an "operational control agreement" from a minority stakeholder on a handshake would be Warren Buffett. Cuban's story doesn't add up.

[CobraCommander]

Cuban is managing his brand.

I was saying this to you guys from the beginning, Mark was full of it. He knew they were considering trading Luka. AND he probably didn't know the details beyond AD, Edwards and Giannis as being potential trade targets and he was more than likely ok with it for the same reasons Nico was.

Remember all those people that Luka loved that got moved from the Mavs got moved UNDER Cuban.

Also you think Mark is in the house for all those games, talking to the press for the Mavs, pretty much still the face of mavs to most outside of Dallas and the owners didn't say..."run this by mark" just to get another expert owners opinion.

if the mavs didn't that would be really sad and show that they have no real understanding of business beyond even basketball (I doubt that billionaires don't understand business) so I suspect MARK KNEW and was maybe not in love with it but at least complicit in some way...same with Kidd..

mark proably gave the list of names to call about a trade...Wolves Bucks and Lakers.... naw Nico said Lakers..

none of them should get a pass

[og15]

I am having trouble reconciling Cuban's claim from just 15 months ago that he would maintain operational control and a partnership, to now claiming he doesn't have any control and didn't know anything about this trade. Cuban has likely entered in to hundreds of partnerships, if not thousands, and would certainly know enough to specify his operational control and duration in the sales contract.

Personally, the only billionaire owner I would trust fulfilling an "operational control agreement" from a minority stakeholder on a handshake would be Warren Buffet. Cuban's story doesn't add up.

Cuban thought that would be the case. It was mentioned by I believe Marc Stein when Cuban said that, that they didn't have anything in writing in the contract details, which is always a bad idea if you want to make sure something actually happens.

Then Cuban was slowly moved out of the daily decisions, but the team was winning, so why would he complain.

It was mentioned again a few months ago in an interview where he said, he doesn't make any decisions anymore, but of course the results (they had come off a finals) were not really one for him to argue against.

This is actually pretty common, especially if you don't get something in writing. You think you will have a specific role with the new regime and they give you the good old, "oh, no, no, sorry".

Now of course maybe if they had sucked it up early, he would have said something and tried to get his way back in, but why would he have made a stink about anything that was happening up until the Luka trade?

[magee]

He sold because he didn't want to pay Luka the Supermax himself and make the tough decision to trade him because financially it didn't make fiscal sense to pay one player almost half the cap space available and not be able to build, and mainly keep, a title team around. Cashed out at the right time.

Like he said, they paid for that right to make the decision.

(Takes off tinfoil hat.)

[Mavrelous]

Funnily enough, when Cuban was majority owner, he was sued by Ross Perot Jr, son of former presidential candidate and minority share holder, this deal is grounds for lawsuit also, I doubt Cuban will go for it, he sold because he didn't have the FCF to support a franchise and Addlesons are politically connected.

[NZB2323]

I think there was a handshake deal that Cuban would remain a part of basketball operations that the other side didn’t honor. That’s not really Cuban’s fault. They won a championship with Cuban, and they’re mad at the current bozos running the team.

I do think Cuban should get more crap for not resigning Tyson Chandler after he anchored their championship defense in 2011, but that’s another story. They probably don’t win again but he completely punted on contending with Dirk ever again.

[Mr B]

Sorry if someone already wrote it, but:
**** Nico Harrisson!!

+1, but need to add a **** the Adelsons too

Cuban hired Nico; he sold to the Adelsons - non basketball people, non Dallas people, and at the time of the November '23 sale, he specifically said he would be maintaining control over basketball operations (though he did not specify for how long). And the last pubic statement says he still owns 27% of the team.

And with regard to rumuors that the Adelson's want to move the team to Las Vegas, by contrast, when the Millers sold the Jazz, they searched for a local buyer, Jazz fan, who agreed in the sales contract to keep the Utah Jazz in Utah.

If I were a Mavs' fan, I would give Cuban a partial pass for reason of bringing a 2011 championship (which is something we've never got in Utah), but I would give Cuban an F on his exit. He sold to non basketball people and left you high and dry.

From AI Grok:

Spoiler:

Yes, at the time of his sale of the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family in November 2023, Mark Cuban explicitly stated that he would maintain control over basketball operations. The deal, which was reported to be in the valuation range of $3.5 billion, involved Cuban selling a majority stake to Miriam Adelson and her family while retaining a 27% ownership share. As part of this unusual arrangement, Cuban emphasized that he would continue to oversee basketball operations, despite no longer being the majority owner or the team's governor.
Cuban described the arrangement as a "partnership," noting that the Adelson family were not "basketball people," while he lacked expertise in real estate, which was a key motivation for the sale. He told reporters before a Mavericks game against Cleveland on December 27, 2023—the day the NBA approved the sale—that he would retain operational control, saying, "It’s a partnership. They’re not basketball people. I’m not real estate people. That’s why I did it." Reports from the time, including statements from Cuban and the Adelson family, consistently highlighted that he would keep full control of basketball operations, with Patrick Dumont, Adelson’s son-in-law, taking on the role of team governor and focusing on business aspects like potential real estate development.
However, Cuban did not specify a fixed "period of time" for how long he would maintain this control. The agreement was framed as an ongoing role rather than a temporary one, though later developments in 2024 suggested that his influence over basketball operations diminished, with General Manager Nico Harrison reporting directly to Dumont instead. At the time of the sale, though, Cuban’s stated intention was to remain in charge of basketball decisions without any indication of a limited duration.

I can’t speak for everyone but I can tell you that I personally give Cuban a pass for this. Yes Cuban did say after he sold the team that he would still be in charge of day to day activities. Then Patrick Dumont went on one of the local radio stations and stated that Cuban is NOT in charge. Dumont acts as the owner. He’s in charge of the overall team. Nico is in charge of all basketball operations. Basically Dumont pulled the rug out from under Cuban.

Cuban is only a minority owner now with very little say. They didn’t even tell him about the Luka trade until it was too late to attempt to do anything about it. Nico has a personal beef with Lukaand made the deal in a very underhanded way.

As for Cuban selling the team to the Adelson’s. He gave an interview last week where he explains why he sold to them specifically. Cuban is a billionaire but he doesn’t have the kind of money needed to run an elite NBA team in today’s world. The Adelson’s do. Their problem is they out the wrong people in charge.

ALSO remember Cuban was real big into crypto currency and the rumors he lost a ton of money over the last couple of years. He NEEDED to sell the team just to get back to where he was financially.

[CobraCommander]

I am having trouble reconciling Cuban's claim from just 15 months ago that he would maintain operational control and a partnership, to now claiming he doesn't have any control and didn't know anything about this trade. Cuban has likely entered in to hundreds of partnerships, if not thousands, and would certainly know enough to specify his operational control and duration in the sales contract.

Personally, the only billionaire owner I would trust fulfilling an "operational control agreement" from a minority stakeholder on a handshake would be Warren Buffet. Cuban's story doesn't add up.

Cuban thought that would be the case. It was mentioned by I believe Marc Stein when Cuban said that, that they didn't have anything in writing in the contract details, which is always a bad idea if you want to make sure something actually happens.

Then Cuban was slowly moved out of the daily decisions, but the team was winning, so why would he complain.

It was mentioned again a few months ago in an interview where he said, he doesn't make any decisions anymore, but of course the results (they had come off a finals) were not really one for him to argue against.

This is actually pretty common, especially if you don't get something in writing. You think you will have a specific role with the new regime and they give you the good old, "oh, no, no, sorry".

Now of course maybe if they had sucked it up early, he would have said something and tried to get his way back in, but why would he have made a stink about anything that was happening up until the Luka trade?

im with Crunch here....Mr SHARKTANK didn't put it in writing and expected it to happen? yeah sure...cuban knew...

and as this trade turns into the thing that takes the mavs from the finals to the lottery perpetually

[hauntedcomputer]

Cuban has always been a shameless self-promoter. He sold the team and is a minority owner. What he says can neither be trusted nor does it matter. He's just a guy clinging to the edge of relevancy.

[dockingsched]

Fans should almost always only blame the current owner. Too often they target the general manager who doesn’t have the power to make these moves on their own.

Time and time again fans prove that they’ll attack whatever human shield the owners decide to put out there, proving owners are spending their money well by having all that anger directed at someone else.

[slick_watts]

imo what mark cuban has done for the mavericks over the years should buy him enough goodwill to get past all this. does no one remember what the mavs were before cuban came along?

[R-DAWG]

What made Cuban such a good owner was that he was really just a fan that came into an insane about of money at a relatively young age, bought the team as a toy, and found a way to win a ton of games and a championship.

With the Adelsons, it's a business not a passion.

[Dan33185]

He sold because he didn't want to pay Luka the Supermax himself and make the tough decision to trade him because financially it didn't make fiscal sense to pay one player almost half the cap space available and not be able to build, and mainly keep, a title team around. Cashed out at the right time.

Like he said, they paid for that right to make the decision.

(Takes off tinfoil hat.)

A guy who is worth over 5 billion isn't worried about paying that.

[AleksandarN]

Funnily enough, when Cuban was majority owner, he was sued by Ross Perot Jr, son of former presidential candidate and minority share holder, this deal is grounds for lawsuit also, I doubt Cuban will go for it, he sold because he didn't have the FCF to support a franchise and Addlesons are politically connected.

He sold the Mavs because I think he is running for president in 4 years