Is Mark Cuban About To Buy Back The Dallas Mavericks?

For over two decades, Mark Cuban was as much the face of the Dallas Mavericks as iconic players like Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic.

All of that changed in late 2023 when he sold a majority stake in the team (which was valued at $3.5 billion then) to casino magnate Dr. Miriam Adelson and businessman Patrick Dumont. Cuban kept an unusually low profile in NBA circles after that, but now, he might be set to reclaim his franchise.

On Monday, Marc Stein tweeted a report that has major implications for the Mavericks’ future: “An unidentified Dallas investor group is interested in partnering with Mark Cuban to buy the Mavericks back from Patrick Dumont, @TheSteinLine has learned. A source close to Dumont told me ‘the family remains excited about the future of the franchise and the Cooper Flagg era.’”

What does a Cuban regime 2.0 mean for the team? Die-hard Mavs fans know fully well that the billionaire’s role as owner was anything but nominal. Back when Cuban was majority owner, he was heavily involved in basketball operations, weighing in on roster decisions and going so far as to argue Xs and Os with Skip Bayless on national TV.

Though Cuban was said to be a consultant for Dumont when his ownership stake diminished, Cuban was reportedly kept in the dark when the Mavs front office pulled the trigger on the Doncic trade last year. Since then, Cuban has publicly hinted at a power struggle between him and former GM Nico Harrison.

Apparently, Cuban’s influence within the Mavs organization might wane even further; according to Stein, his minority stake “can be bought down to seven percent by Miriam Adelson/Dumont at the new owners' discretion within the first four years of the partnership.”

Unless, of course, the Adelson-Dumont tandem decides to sell back the team to Cuban and whoever decides to help foot the bill. It’s worth noting that Adelson and Dumont have an incentive to set up a franchise elsewhere, as they have long been rumored to be eyeing a team in Las Vegas (where their casino business is based).

A number of analysts have put forward this scenario: Cuban buys back the Mavs, and Adelson and Dumont set up an expansion squad in Vegas. With the NBA Board of Governors reportedly set to vote on the league’s expansion this summer, this is a possibility in the near future.