Wary of Cowboys' sticky situation, Mark Cuban reveals why he sold Mavericks as owners Miriam Adelson & co. aim to make Dallas prime gambling spot

For 23 years, Mark Cuban was a staple of the NBA. He acquired the Dallas Mavericks in January 2000 and laid the blueprint for how team owners should approach their team's operations, setting the bar high in terms of player treatment.

Cuban was also quite outspoken regarding all things NBA, and he was a usual sight sitting courtside at Mavericks games. That's why it was such a major surprise when he agreed to sell his majority stake in the team.

In an interview with Ben Swanger of D CEO on Monday, he revealed that he made that decision because of his kids. He compared it to the Dallas Cowboys and all the criticism Jerry Jones has gotten for appointing his children to positions of power there:

“I didn’t want to put my kids in a position where they felt pressure to run the team,” Mark Cuban told D CEO. “Sports fans are not always forgiving. Just take the Cowboys this past season, for example.”

It was a shocking decision nonetheless, and the fans don't seem to be too thrilled with the Adelson family after the Luka Doncic trade.

Perhaps the fans will feel differently once the new owners fulfill their vision. Being casino moguls, they intend to align the team with that line of business as well going forward:

"Eventually, talks progressed into dreaming up a mixed-use development that would include a resort, casino, convention center, restaurants, and a new stadium for the Mavericks. The plan was, and still is, largely dependent on Texas legalizing casino gambling," reported Swanger.

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The Mavs didn't consult Mark Cuban about the Luka Doncic trade

The new era of Mavericks basketball got off to a strong start, as the team made it to the NBA Finals and GM Nico Harrison looked like a genius after some of the in-season trades he had made.

However, trading Luka Doncic was perhaps the most controversial move in the league since the James Harden trade.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the team kept Mark Cuban in the dark about this transaction. By the time he found out and tried to talk Harrison out of it, it was already too late:

"By the time Cuban found out about the Luka-for-AD trade, it was too late," Stein wrote in his Substack. "Dumont never approached for advice. Sources say Cuban urged Harrison not to go ahead with the swap...only to find out that the deal had already been sealed with the Lakers by verbal handshake."

Cuban once said that he would choose Doncic over his wife, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see that he wasn't on board with this transaction.

The Mavericks got a very good player in return in Anthony Davis, but Doncic was significantly younger and one of the best players in the league.