Mark Cuban says that the NBA’s pettiness is the reason he doesn’t attend Dallas’ road games anymore.
The billionaire owner held the majority stake in the Mavs, until he sold 72.3 percent of that to the Adelson and Dumont families in December of 2023. He now owns just 27 percent.
Cuban has been noticeably absent from the second row behind the bench for away games and he said it’s because of the league enforcing the rules.
“The NBA got really, really, really petty and said that I can’t sit behind the bench anymore,” Cuban told The Stein Line.
When Cuban sold the team, there was some kind of expectation he would keep running basketball operations.
However, Mavs GM Nico Harrison was clearly reporting straight to new owner Patrick Dumont by the time Dallas reached the NBA Finals last season.
Cuban spoke honestly about adjusting to the shift.
“It’s been up and down,” Cuban said. “I’ve had moments of both — times where I was like, ‘OK, this is what we need to do, but I’m not the boss.’ And then there have been other times where I’m like: ‘I’m glad I’m not the boss.’ ”
He added: “The only time I feel any regret is when the NBA pisses me off. Maybe it would be different if we were losing and things weren’t going well, but things are going well. It’s nothing specific to the Mavs. I can’t go into NBA meetings anymore and give them sh*t for being petty.”
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