For over two decades, Mavs thrived to unimaginable heights under the ownership of Mark Cuban. With his vision and passion, the shark turned his $285 million purchase into a multi-billion-dollar, well-oiled machine. But things changed in December 2023 when Cuban gave up control by selling his majority stake to the Adelson family. And people within the Mavs organization quickly began noticing red flags working for their new boss.
Making an appearance on The Dumb Zone podcast, Mavs’ former VP of Content Mike Marshall made a shocking revelation about Patrick Dumont and Miriam Adelson’s concerning action within the first few months of taking control, “The first six months or so that they owned the team it did not matter. We didn’t know them. We didn’t see them. The only thing I guess that raised kind of like a red flag in the first six months or so was nobody got playoff bonuses. We went to the NBA finals and we did not get playoff bonuses.”
Yes, it’s a basic practice in the NBA that employees of every organization that makes a deep playoff run receive a hefty bonus for the overtime work. But the former employee revealed that Mavs’ new ownership broke that norm as soon as they arrived despite their historic NBA Finals run. “That is the one on the side of the 99s on the other side. 99 out of a 100 times that an NBA team has gone to the playoffs or Finals, they have gotten playoff bonuses, I’d say.” Mike remarked.
Well, that’s the kind of thing that might never have happened under Mark Cuban’s leadership. But ever since the arrival of Adelson and Dumont, his influence within the Mavericks has all but vanished. According to Mike, Cuban’s last real involvement came in January, tied to a broadcasting dispute that led to an employee being fired. “That’s pretty much the last time I saw him involved in anything on the business or basketball side,” he revealed. “It was very confusing for everybody internally. Extremely confusing.”
That’s confusing because even after the sale, Mark retained a 27% stake in the franchise and remained the head of basketball operations. But turns out, he slowly faded out of the system, “They sent out the proper wording on it like Patrick Dumont is like Governor, which is I know what that means. I don’t think this is what Mark is saying it is but he’s saying he’s still in control… Just like slow divorce… It was just really really weird directionally.” Mike revealed. After a point, Cuban just wasn’t there anymore and Mavs were left at the mercy of new ownership. Turns out, Mark was not too involved even when he was in control!
Mike Marshall claims Mark Cuban was not hands on with Mavs’ business as majority owner
During his tenure as the controlling owner, Cuban turned the Mavs from the league’s laughing stock to perennial title contenders. Under his leadership, they won their maiden NBA championship back in 2011. So, his run as the owner will always be cherished by Dallas fans. However, Mike revealed that as passionate as Cuban was for the team, he was not too involved on the business side of things, “He wasn’t really hands on with the business side consistently in my time there… He was always on the periphery.”
Dec 25, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; (from left) Mark Cuban and new Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts and retiring Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall and Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont present Marshall with a commerative jersey during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Instead of physical meetings, most of Cuban’s interactions with Mike happened via e-mails. The good thing was, despite his busy schedule, Mark always responded, “I could definitely shoot him an e-mail and he would be like ‘Okay, here’s what I would do.’ And then he would, to his credit dude, he would follow up… He would legitimately follow up and be like ‘Did that thing get fixed?’ or do you need me to talk to other people?” Mike claims he sat in just a couple of meetings with Cuban over a period of five and a half years.
Obviously, that did not matter as long as Cuban’s leadership was producing consistent results and keeping his employees happy. Now, the organization has entered a new era, functioning under Dumont and Adelson. Clearly, they were not off to the great start, with the Luka Doncic trade and now the shocking revelation about the employee bonuses. Hopefully, things will get better going forward with Cooper Flagg’s arrival. What are your thoughts?
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