Mark Cuban will sell majority stake in Mavericks

By Shams Charania, Mike Vorkunov and Tim Cato

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is selling a majority stake in the franchise to Miriam Adelson and her family at a valuation of about $3.5 billion, league sources said. However, Cuban retains ownership of the team and full control of its basketball operations.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. disclosed Tuesday in an SEC filing that Adelson sold $2 billion worth of stock in the company to buy a majority stake in a sports franchise with her own money. This is approximately 10 percent of its stake.

“We have been advised by the selling shareholders that they currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with additional cash, to finance the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise pursuant to a binding purchase agreement, under subject to customary league approvals,” Las Vegas Sands said in the SEC filing.

Adelson is the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., which was previously owned and operated by her late husband, Sheldon Adelson. She is one of the richest people in the world; Forbes named her the 35th richest and fifth richest woman this year, with an estimated net worth of $32.3 billion. Las Vegas Sands Corp. had revenues of $2.8 billion in the third quarter of the fiscal year alone. Sheldon Adelson was a casino magnate who built the Sands Casino in Las Vegas and then several other casino resorts in Singapore and Macau.

He and Miriam Adelson were prominent Republican donors and contributors to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, as well as supporters of Israeli and Jewish causes. They donated $180 million to Republican campaigns and political action committees in 2020 Forbesand have reportedly given nearly $500 million to Birthright Israel over the past two decades.

Adelson’s skills in real estate and arena development, as well as launching casino gaming and entertainment in Dallas, were attractive factors in Cuban’s sale, league sources said. He told the Dallas Morning News last year that he planned to work with Las Vegas Sands Corp. to build a casino and resort in Dallas that would also house the Mavericks. Texas has no legalized sports betting.

Miriam Adelson will add the Mavericks to a slew of diverse investments. The family owns two daily newspapers: Israel Hayom in Israel and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

However, no signing will generate as much interest as the Mavericks. Cuban lived it up and helped drive the franchise’s intrigue. He bought the Mavericks in 2000 for $285 million and although he didn’t make his initial wealth through the team, he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo! in 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, Cuban achieved a degree of fame and status as an owner. He was loud and visible in Dallas, often addressing referees from his courtside seat early in his tenure, but the Mavericks reached two NBA Finals and made the playoffs in all the seasons he owned the team, except for five.

Cuban will continue to serve as head of the franchise’s basketball operations if the NBA approves the deal — the rare owner to sell his majority stake but retain control. But it can also open him up to new endeavors. He then built his public profile over the years, starring as a judge on Shark Tank and developing a reputation as a prominent entrepreneur. Cuban has also had several public conflicts with a political career.

For more than two decades, Cuban has been as much the face of the Mavericks as any star who has played for the franchise in that time. Loud, opinionated and too often fined by the NBA, Cuban has made himself the center of attention in his nearly 23 years of ownership of the franchise. He was a fixture on the sidelines and a leading voice in the front office. That strategy has worked well enough for the Mavericks; they won one NBA title in 2011 and nearly won another in 2006.

NBA reporter Marc Stein was the first to report that the sale was underway.

Why Cuban made the switch

This transaction is as interesting as it is surprising. At a time when the NBA, and every other sports league, is focusing on sports betting, the Mavericks are being purchased by the family of one of the country’s biggest casino magnates, Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021. Adelson Trust leads a group that owns 57 percent of Las Vegas Sand Corp. property, which owns and operates casinos around the world. If approved, Adelson would currently become only the third woman to be the principal owner of an NBA team, joining Los Angeles Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and New Orleans Pelicans’ Gayle Benson. Jody Allen leads the Portland Trail Blazers as chairman of the Paul G. Allen Trust.

This is the second basketball team the Adelson family has purchased this year. Matan Adelson, Miriam’s son, bought Hapoel Jerusalem this summer, an Israeli club that also plays in the EuroCup.

This trade also puts an end to a seemingly endless valuation increase for NBA teams. The value of teams just seemed to keep going up and right over the past decade. But after the Hornets were sold for $3 billion earlier this year, a 25 percent stake in the Bucks went for a $3.5 billion valuation, and Mat Ishbia bought a majority stake in the Suns at a $4 billion valuation, the Mavericks can’t top that. number. It’s a bit surprising because Dallas-Fort Worth is the fifth largest media market in the country, and Dallas is the ninth largest city by population. Not to mention that the Mavericks have been successful recently and have one of the NBA’s biggest stars in Luka Doncic.

It’s also a win for Cuban, who can continue running basketball operations despite selling most of his shares. — Mike Vorkunov, national basketball business reporter

Cuban has already ceded some front office influence to Nico Harrison

Cuban’s identity has been so closely intertwined with the Mavericks since he bought the team in 2000 that his decision to sell is shocking. But it’s why he’s gained something unprecedented: continued control over basketball operations, which Cuban has long been known for.

Since Nico Harrison was hired as general manager in 2021, Cuban has been a less influential figure on front-office matters: still actively involved and aware of what’s happening, but leaving more of those decisions up to Harrison, who has a The team has introduced a much more rigid structure than in the past under former general manager Donnie Nelson.

We may not know what Cuban’s unique setup means on a functional level until more time has passed. Maybe something else is driving Cuban’s decision to sell, but there’s no doubt the Mavericks are facing an unknown future. — Tim Cato, Mavericks staff writer

Required reading

(Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)