"We upgraded immediately"—Shark Tank's Mark Cuban reveals the first major change he made after buying Dallas Mavericks

Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban recently spoke about Dallas Mavericks NBA team, which he bought in January 2000. In an interview with GQ Sports on November 27, Cuban shared that his first goal when he bought the Mavericks was to "change the culture."

"I remember meeting with the players and asking them what are the things that you would change? There was a guy by the name of Gary Trent and he was like, "Mark, we get into some towns after a game, 2, 3, 4 in the morning. Have you ever tried to go get something to eat in Oakland, California at three in the morning?" he added.

Cuban cleared that while he wasn't pointing fingers at Oakland, it was hard to get a proper meal in any city at that time. Also, the hotels they stayed at didn't have room service and were taken at the "cheapest price". Cuban felt it was "ridiculous" and it helped him set the tone for his administration, leading them to improve their management.

"We upgraded immediately. So we stayed at nothing but the best hotels. We made sure they had not only room service but healthy foods. We brought in nutritionists. Dirk Nowitzki used to say that he would eat chips and candy bars before a game. We gave him the opportunity to be healthy, the Shark Tank investor added.

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Shark Tank's Mark Cuban brought in former professional athletes to provide personalized, one-on-one training sessions for the players

Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban at the Laker game against the Dallas Mavericks on March 31, 20 11- (Image via Getty)

Mark Cuban bought the NBA team, Dallas Mavericks, in January of 2000, for $285 million. He shared in his GQ Sports interview that at the time he had just sold his company for $5.7 billion in stock, and he had the money to invest in other things.

Cuban emphasized that he didn’t buy Dallas Mavericks as a traditional investment; instead, he did it out of sheer passion as a self-proclaimed "basketball junkie." A former player himself, Cuban shared that he saw the opportunity to combine his love for the sport with ownership. He added that the experience has been an absolute blast since then.

Besides upgrading hotel services and adding nutritionists, the Shark Tank investor revolutionized NBA team management by prioritizing player development.

"I bought the team, we had four coaches, head coach, an assistant coach and two other coaches that did things like work with the guys to develop skills, rebound for them when they wanted to get shots up and those types of things," he shared.

Cuban realized they were spending more money training office employees to use Excel and Microsoft Word than on developing players' skills. This was despite paying those players "100s of 1,000s and millions of dollars each".

The Shark Tank investor brought in a long list of former Maverick players including Morlon Wiley, and Greg Riley, and asked them to provide personalized, one-on-one training sessions for the players. This plan was executed within weeks and helped "change the culture."

"I went out and found former Mavericks Morlon Wiley, Greg Riley, and a long, long list and said, "We wanna bring you in and give you each an individual player to work with." And it was up and running within weeks. It also changes the culture so that they understand that I'm ready to do whatever it takes to win," he said.

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Shark Tank season 16 episodes air every Friday on ABC.