Mark Cuban admits he made a mistake letting go of the Mavericks: ‘I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to’

Mark Cuban built his nearly $10 billion fortune on bold bets. 

The former Shark Tank star and founder of Cost Plus Drugs bought the Dallas Mavericks in January 2000 for $285 million from H. Ross Perot Jr. and held onto the team for more than two decades. Cuban was largely involved with the team, and becoming an NBA owner seemed like one of the smartest moves of his career.

But in 2023, Cuban decided it was time to offload his majority stake in the Mavericks for $3.5 billion. The billionaire sold his majority stake to the family of Miriam Adelson, the controlling shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (The deal included Adelson’s son-in-law, Patrick Dumont). Adelson is the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and is a physician, philanthropist, and major GOP donor. The family is worth an estimated $40 billion.

While he raked in some major cash as part of the sale, Cuban, an open Kamala Harris supporter in the 2024 election, is now saying he has second thoughts about how it all went down.

“I don’t regret selling,” Cuban said on a recent episode of the Intersections podcast. “I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”

It’s a major reversal from Cuban, who told reporters after closing the deal in December 2023 that “nothing’s really changed except my bank account,” according to ESPN. Cuban still owns 27.7% of the team.

A two-decade run

When Cuban bought the Mavericks from Perot Jr., the franchise was less than a success.

In the 20 years before Cuban’s arrival, Dallas had only won 40% of its games, carried a losing playoff record, and had thousands of empty seats at games. George Anders even wrote in The Wall Street Journal in 2003 that “people snickered in January 2000 when Internet tycoon Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks.”

“Not only was Mr. Cuban throwing his cash around, he seemed too goofy to last long in the ultracompetitive NBA,” Anders continued.

But Cuban quickly changed the culture of the then-beleaguered team by showing up to games, sitting courtside, and spending freely on talent. He was so involved that, in fact, he was fined repeatedly by the NBA for his outspokenness. Once in 2018, he was fined a whopping $600,000 for comments about tanking during a podcast with Hall of Famer Julius Erving.

“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night,” Cuban said during the podcast. “And here we are. We weren’t competing for the playoffs. I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option.’” Still, very few people questioned Cuban’s commitment to the team.

The Mavericks’ big payoff came in 2011 when they defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat to win the franchise’s first and only NBA Championship. By 2022, the Mavericks had drafted Luka Dončić, a generational talent who looked poised to deliver a second title. But an Athletic report suggests Cuban had been edged out of the team’s decision-making by then.

The next year, Cuban sold his majority stake. 

The deal that went wrong

Cuban finalized the sale of a majority stake at a $3.5 billion valuation, which was more than 12 times what he paid. At the time, he cited the financial strain of competing in a changing NBA ownership landscape, calling himself a “middle-class billionaire” who could no longer shoulder the burden alone. He also said he didn’t want his children drawn into the demands of running a franchise.

“My kids, they were coming of age where they would have the mindset that they want to work at the Mavs. I didn’t want them to,” Cuban said on the Intersections podcast. “If fans don’t like what you’re doing or the team’s not doing well, you’re the worst human being on the planet.”

Cuban retained a 27% minority stake and initially expected to continue to have input on basketball operations. That arrangement, he now acknowledges, never materialized. 

“I don’t regret selling the team; I regret how I did it,” Cuban said during an appearance on the DLLS Mavs podcast in August 2025. “I would have put it out to bid. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t matter.”

What’s next

Cuban still holds roughly 27% of the Mavericks, but the sale agreement allows the Adelson family to purchase an additional 20% of the franchise from him within four years of the deal closing, potentially reducing Cuban’s stake to just 7%. 

Reports earlier this year suggested Cuban was involved with an investor group exploring a buyback, though an Adelson family spokesperson indicated the family plans to buy the majority of his remaining stake.

“The Dumont and Adelson families remain fully committed to the Dallas Mavericks franchise and to the Dallas community,” a spokesperson said in a February statement to The Dallas Morning News. “They remain focused on building a championship organization for the long term.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com