Mark Cuban explains REAL reason for selling Dallas Mavericks | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love. Thank you. I read something where you said your investment, well, your sale of the Mavericks is an investment in specific partners as well as a bet on real estate being important to the future of NBA ownership. What was the reason? Can you share a little bit more or clarify a little bit more of that for me or for the, For our audience.

Look at Chase, right? Look what Joe and that whole crew did, right?

Joe went and put together the group. It was all private funding and they built a place that's amazing. And that's where they make more of their money. I mean, I don't know all the numbers, but that's what I would bet, right?

Because, and look how much they spent to get there.

Yes.

I don't know that shit at all, right?

Yes.

I, you know, I did this 'cause I love basketball.

I didn't do this to try to make as much money as I could. You know, when we would do stuff, it wasn't like, okay, I gotta hit this budget. And it'd be like, okay, whatever.

And that was good sometimes and it got me in trouble sometimes, right?

'Cause I wasn't paying attention to that side. But now with the new CBA and the way media's changing, I know technology and media cold, man. I grew up with that. I know that stuff in and out. I couldn't build a Chase Center if I wanted to. My new partners, the Patrick Dumond and the Adelsons, That's what they live for, man. The Sands, he runs the Sands Corp and, you know, they're the biggest casino people around the world and they build arenas. This is what they live for, right? And so, you know, like on Shark Tank, I always say I'd rather have 25% of a watermelon than 100% of a grape, right?

Yes. Down to, right?

I just, you know, because I just, I'm not good at asking people for money. Let's go put together this thing. You know, I just, I love the game. I love being part of it. I love the energy. I hate losing, right? And I hate the pain of it all, but I know what I'm good at and I know what I suck at. And I wasn't gonna try to lie to myself and do something I couldn't do.

That's special. And the smartest people in the world, you're also smart because you know what you don't know. And that's one of the things that I've tried to figure out. You know, obviously I'm 34 now, so I've been doing some business, but, and getting the people around me that knows what I don't know.

It's no different than basketball though, right? You know your role.

And when your team, when everybody on the team knows your role, you're pretty good. Even if everybody's not as talented as another team.

Absolutely.

When you don't, people don't know their roles, that's when things go to shit, right? And it's the exact same way in business. And the hard part is going through all the ups and downs to getting that squad together, right? Because everybody's got their own goals. Everybody's got, you know, a limited career where they've got to accomplish certain things. Some guys just want to stay in.

It's all different.

Well, in companies, it's the same way, right? Somebody, you know, it's just a start to their career. They don't want to stay in this city forever. So they're not going to be there forever. Somebody's been at it for, you know, 15 years. They know it's getting, you know, longer in the tooth. It's harder for them to keep up, but they have this wisdom and experience. How do you make all these people in the company mesh? That's a great question. And when you're trying to invest in new things, particularly like when things are changing or new industries, whether it's AI on the tech side or real estate and all the changes that are happening there, you gotta know how to put together that team.

I didn't, I don't.

And I just didn't fit my skillset. And, you know, it wasn't like I was paying them to come in. I was getting paid for the right to do that.

Right.

So it was a win-win situation. And I got to stay with the basketball side, you know, and, you know, run out in the court when Kyrie hits an insane shot and I'm in that pile on like, you know, that's the best part about owning, at least now owning part of a team or owning the whole team back then.

That shot's in the air, everybody's heart's pounding, I get to run on the court and jump in the pile and not get arrested, man, the best thing ever.

Absolutely, and by the way, when you started doing that, that brought, not only did it bring life to NBA ownership, but I think it brought a, totally different perspective to how people viewed NBA owners. No one was as involved. No owner was running on the court going crazy.

I was getting so much shit. You have no idea.

Like the guys, like when I first got there, the old dudes like inherited the teams, bought 'em, won 'em in a poker game or whatever, right? I'd be in a meeting and one time they were like, "Shut the fuck up. You've never done anything in this league." And then I called the dude by the wrong name 'cause I just got there and just like, It was like, they were just killing me all the time, fining me. Like the first time I got fined, we were in Minnesota and I always wanted to set the tone that there was no job on the basketball side that I wouldn't do, right?

Even on the other side for that matter, business side.

And so I want, you know, the guys who sit on the floor, the equipment guys, and then they'll get up, they'll take your jersey, whatever, give you your warmups and everything. I'm like, I'm sitting with those dudes, right? 'Cause I wanna get to know them better.

I wanna see their job.

And I wanted to be close to the team, just get the feel for the vibe, right? And they fined me $100,000, I think it was, my first full year for conduct unbecoming an owner.

I'm like, you ain't seen nothing yet, David.

That's hilarious. Is it? So, so, so right now after the sale has been completed, uh, by the way, I'm sorry, congratulations on that.

Thank you.

You know, so many times, you know, I have a, I'm really sorry because I have a huge pet peeve. You know, just like yourself, we have friends that are doing incredible things. And so oftentimes because our friends have had so much success, right? Like you see something where it's like, oh, Mark once sold Broadcast.com in '99 for $5.7 million. So I don't really need to hit him and say congratulations about selling it for $3.5 million. Out of $3.5 billion, excuse me, right? Like, and that happens so oftentimes to people that's had success over and over and over again. And so I apologize, congratulations on that.

It's okay, I'm okay with it.

I appreciate you, thank you. No problem. But so what is your role currently now with the Dallas Mavericks once you've completed the sale?

Basketball, just basketball.

Okay. I don't have to worry about anything else, you know, Nico and me and just, you know, because when you're the general manager, by the way, Nico's done a phenomenal job.

Yes, he has.

Right, he's a stud.

But there's still, there's the sense of a general manager is different than the sense of an owner, right? Because the owner's gotta think not just in terms of one year or even three years or this contract or next time, you gotta have a longer horizon. And you've gotta think more in terms of the CBA and, you know, the bigger picture, how much money you willing to lose in luxury tax, right? How much you willing to spend? You gotta make that decision.

Right?

Where, you know, the general manager just wants to win or keep the job, whatever it is, right? So it's just a different perspective. And plus, Nico, you know, is new to the basketball side. And so there's somebody's gotta be that guy that's been there a long time and has done it a long time. So it's a great partnership. I love working with the guy and, you know, it's been easy for me to give him more and more responsibility 'cause he's so good at it.

Yeah, no, Nico's incredible. I had the opportunity to work with Nico for my first, 9 years in the NBA, I wanna say, when he was with Nike. And he was always incredible. He was always very honest, which I can always appreciate. He was always extremely honest with me. If I called him and I'm like, "Nico, I want a signature shoe." Nico's response probably would be, "Draymond, I love you. You can't sell a signature shoe." Like always just honest.

He called himself the silent assassin. He's like, Silent assassin, right? He'll pull no punches whatsoever.

Exactly. And I think that's absolutely incredible. And I was so excited. Like, I know Nico had teetered around with some assistant GM jobs throughout the years. I think the Spurs was one of 'em and a couple other, maybe the Lakers was one of 'em. He was, you know, him and Kobe, what they built. And I was so excited to see him get the opportunity to be the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks because I know what type of person Nico is, and I know the type of loyalty you've shown to players who's played for you, coaches who's coached for you, general managers who's been the general manager of your teams. I know the type of loyalty. And being in this business, I care about Nico. Like, we built a great relationship. I still talk to Nico to this day. Like, being in this business, to see him uproot his family from Portland to Dallas that had been home forever.

Come on.

Yeah. Like, and to know, like, but you're going to a guy that's going to be willing to grow with you. You, like you're— and is going to be loyal to you. I was really happy to see that because I knew it would be a good situation for him.

For him, Charlize, the family.

I mean, the kids, they're good people, right? So it makes it easy for me, you know? And it's just a matter of letting him take his steps and, you know, trusting him to do things. You know, I still—

we still talk and everything and, you know, still get involved.

But, you know, every day he gets more and more responsibility and he just— keeps on getting better and that's all you can ask.

That's absolutely incredible. There was a little rumor around that you were scared on what the next TV deal brings and that that's one of the reasons you sold the team. Is there any truth to that? And if so, what are you thinking about the new TV deal that's up ahead?

Yeah, I mean, it's a good question, right?

You can't look at linear television and not be scared.

Yes. Right?

Yes. That's the difference, right?

Look, I'm on Shark Tank.

I see her—

our ratings every week. Used to be like when the show aired, we'd have 9, 10 million viewers. Now there's 3, 4 million viewers, right?

And that's the same thing across.

But on the flip side, the shows that do do well, sports, right? So they need us more. But then one step further, like Bally's was our local broadcaster.

Yes.

And they went bankrupt. Right? And so they got bailed out by Amazon.

So if streamers come in and are as big as I think they are going to be, it won't be an issue, right?

Yes.

Even if I'm 80% confident, there's always that 20% chance, right?

So it's hard to peg it exactly.

I don't think we're going to have a problem for the next 10 years.

Yes.

After that, I have no idea, right?

Who knows what the world's going to be like from a technology and streaming and AI and multimedia. You know, what I do think is a source of revenue that is under-monetized is social media.

Yes. Right? Because we are the biggest thing.

The NBA is huge on social media, right?

You know that, you see it.

You know, guys in the NBA are, you know, other than maybe, you know, soccer overseas, right? The biggest athletes on the planet.

That's a fact.

And that carries a lot of value.

And so, I think, you know, I pushed hard and continue to push hard that we're under-monetizing that. So, even if those deals aren't quite where I expect them to be, I think the social media side will pick up the slack at some point, maybe not this year, but 5, 10 years, whatever it is. So, I think the NBA will be okay. So, you know, from— it wasn't so much that, but it was definitely the real estate side, like I explained to you. And look, you know, the whole 25% of a watermelon, If we're able to get casino gaming passed, resort casino gaming passed in Texas, could you imagine a Venetian built in downtown Dallas where the Dallas Mavericks play?

Oh my God. By the way, I love Dallas, so that's like music to my ears. I love that city.

It's a great city, right? It is.

It's like now I just saw something like between Dallas-Fort Worth, we're up to 8 million people, and we're like the 5th largest, you know, DMA.

So there's, there's nothing but upside down here, but you need somebody who knows that business to take advantage of it.

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