Former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is taking legal action over the team’s plans for a new arena, claiming he has been pushed aside and kept out of important discussions.
Apparently, even after owning a basketball team, you can still end up sitting on the bench.
Cuban filed a dispute in Dallas County, Texas, accusing Mavericks majority owner Patrick Dumont of engaging in what he described as “adversarial business practices.”
Translation? Cuban believes things have gotten messy behind the scenes.
And when Mark Cuban says things are messy, you know it is not just a disagreement over who forgot to order office supplies.
This is billionaire-level drama.
The issue centers around the Mavericks’ plans for a new arena development at the Valley View site in North Dallas.
The massive 104-acre project is expected to include a new arena, a practice facility, and entertainment spaces.
Basically, not just a place to watch basketball. More like a basketball Disneyland.
Except with fewer rides and more people yelling at referees.
Cuban is seeking more information about the arena plans and wants a judge to require the team’s executives to reveal details about the project.
In other words, he wants to see the playbook.
Cuban said in the filing that he wants information on “the financing of a new Dallas Mavericks arena at Valley View and the exploration and identification of locations for the new arena, among other things.” He also said that he was “contractually entitled to participate” in the Valley View deal.
Cuban, despite selling a majority stake in the Mavericks, still owns 27% of the team, and he claims that he would still be in charge of the basketball operations. The billionaire sold his stake in the team in 2023 to Miriam Adelson and Dumont, who is Adelson’s son-in-law. Adelson’s husband, Sheldon, who was the founder, former chairman, and CEO of the casino company Las Vegas Sands, died in 2021.
That agreement, according to the petition, was made via a handshake deal. Instead, Cuban claims that Dumont gave Nico Harrison that job. Harrison was fired as general manager in November partly because of bungling of the blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The situation is another chapter in the complicated relationship between Cuban and the Mavericks after he sold the majority stake of the team.
A team famous for unpredictable moments is now giving fans unpredictable business headlines.
For now, the arena plans remain a major focus, and the legal dispute will determine how much access Cuban gets to the details.
