Mark Cuban Says Acquiring Dallas Mavericks Was All About Fun, Not Billions: 'I'm The Luckiest M*****F***** In The World'

Shark Tank host and billionaire Mark Cuban said he bought the Dallas Mavericks just for fun and that he did not actually have plans to do so.

What Happened: Cuban sold a controlling interest in the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families in December in a deal that values the team at $3.5 billion.

Cuban has enjoyed his time owning the Mavericks, a team he purchased in 2000 for a relatively small amount of $285 million. At the time, it was one of the worst-performing teams in the NBA's history.

‘It Was All About Fun'

But Cuban was a freshly-minted billionaire, thanks to the sale of his media company Broadcast.com to Yahoo for a staggering $5.7 billion. This was Yahoo's most expensive acquisition and netted Cuban $1.4 billion.

"It was all about fun, it wasn't like I'm going to buy this thing," Cuban said during an interview on The Draymond Green Show.

"I'm the luckiest m*********** in the world, right, you know, to come where I come from and then to have multiple Bs next to your name. I never imagined that."

After toiling hard for years to build Broadcast.com, Cuban paid heed to his father's advice to have fun while it's still possible.

"My dad did the upholstery in cars and his thing was always about, you only have so much time on this Earth and you better enjoy it."

Cuban added that it's what he tried to do. "Yeah, I wanted to get paid, but I wanted to get paid so I can… control my own time."

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The Mavs Turnaround

To his credit, Cuban has helped the Mavericks make a turnaround – they are currently placed fifth as the regular season draws to a close.

Explaining how he achieved this, Cuban said he went in and told the team that he was ready to do "whatever it takes to win."

"I had this big, tall guy named Dirk Nowitzki, and I let him be Dirk Nowitzki, and I got out of the way," Cuban said on a recent episode of Lex Fridman Podcast.

"I made the decision to go out there and hire 15 different development coaches, one for each player. Everybody thought I was just insane."

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"Once the guys believed that winning was the goal as opposed to just making money, attitudes changed, efforts went up, and the rest is history."

‘Never Thought I'd Sell'

Cuban has reaped the rewards of turning around the fortunes of the Mavericks – his $285 million investment has surged by over 12 times between 2000 and 2023 to $3.5 billion.

However, just like he never planned on buying the Mavericks, he says he didn't think he'd sell it.

For instance, Cuban stuck with Dirk Nowitzki despite the Mavericks not winning even one title between 2000 and 2011. He says "Dirk was my guy, no matter what, thick or thin."

Going forward, Cuban will keep a minority stake in the NBA team.

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