Mark Cuban doesn’t have regrets about his decision to sell his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks. 

Who he sold to, however, is a different story. 

Cuban revealed this week that, after a tumultuous few years following the sale, he would not have sold the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont. 

“I don’t regret selling,” Cuban said on 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.”

Cuban first purchased the Mavericks in 2000 for about $285 million. The team won the NBA Finals in 2011 with Dirk Nowitzki, and then Cuban opted to sell his majority share in December 2023 at about a $3.5 billion valuation. Cuban retained about 27% of the Mavericks, while the majority share went to Adelson and Dumont, who is the CEO of the Las Vegas Sands. 

Cuban said at the time that nothing would really change basketball-wise and that he’d still be involved in that aspect of the team. But things did change, and quickly. 

In February 2025, a little more than a year after Cuban sold, general manager Nico Harrison stunned the NBA world by trading away Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. Harrison was eventually fired after swift backlash from fans, and then the Mavericks traded away Anthony Davis — who they got in the deal for Dončić — earlier this season. 

The Mavericks did luck into the No. 1 overall pick in the draft last summer, however, which resulted in them landing former Duke star Cooper Flagg. The Mavericks hold a 24-50 record entering Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and have already been eliminated from playoff contention for a second straight year. 

Dallas still does not have a permanent general manager to replace Harrison. Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi have been sharing the role on an interim basis. The franchise is also looking to build a new arena, and wants to leave the American Airlines Center when the lease expires in 2031.

Despite all the chaos that followed, Cuban said the “big emotional commitment” that came with owning the team was starting to weigh on him. Cuban was undoubtedly one of the league’s most visible owners at the time. He also said he didn’t want to pass the team down to his children or have them work for the team, either.

“I didn’t want that for them. It can be abusive, a lot,” Cuban said. “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, and they treat you that way.”