Mavericks’ Front Office Targets, Mark Cuban’s Comments Show Dire Need for New Leadership in Dallas

The Mavs need an adult in the room after a disastrous series of decisions.

The Mavericks have not thrived under the ownership of Patrick Dumont and the Adelson family. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The current state of the Mavericks is almost unconscionable when considering where the franchise was merely two years ago around this time.

In 2024, a few months after Mark Cuban officially sold majority ownership of the franchise to the Adelson family, Dallas had everything an NBA team could want. The roster boasted an international superstar and future face of the NBA in 25-year-old Luka Dončić, as well as an elite (and incredibly entertaining) running mate in Kyrie Irving. They were coached by the well-regarded Jason Kidd and a series of smart yet bold deadline moves by then-GM Nico Harrison catapulted the team into genuine title contention. After the Mavs unexpectedly ripped through the West playoff bracket that year and earned their first NBA Finals appearance since the glory days of Dirk Nowitzki, few teams around the league figured to have a brighter future.

It has been almost entirely downhill since—as we well know. Dončić was traded in the middle of the night seven months after those Finals, making Dallas the perpetrator of arguably the worst trade in sports history. The new ownership group very clearly underestimated the impact of the move on the fanbase and the future of the basketball team. Irving tore his ACL. The prize star acquired in exchange for Dončić, Anthony Davis, lived up to his reputation of playing very well before getting hurt immediately. Only the 2025 NBA draft lottery prevented the franchise from spinning into the NBA’s version of Dante’s seventh circle; despite holding incredibly slim odds the Mavs won the No. 1 pick and were able to select the generational Cooper Flagg.

But his addition didn’t cure most of the team’s woes, even if it slightly soothed an infuriated and devastated city. With weeks remaining in the 2025–26 regular season Dallas is one of the worst teams in the NBA. Harrison was fired, leading to team governor Patrick Dumont penning a letter apologizing to the fans. Michael Finley and Matt Ricardi took over as co-interim GMs and their hands were so tied upon taking the reins they had to effectively salary-dump Davis at the deadline.

The Mavericks’ trade of Luka Dončić to the Lakers marked a significant negative turning point for the franchise. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

And that’s all just what we can see with our own eyes. Behind the scenes things don’t seem much better; this week all the Mavericks talk in the news has been about a declaration from Cuban that he regrets selling the franchise to the Adelson family after “privately grumbling for more than a year” about the new owners, ESPN reported on Tuesday.

“I don't regret selling," Cuban said on a podcast. “I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I'll leave it at that.”

The vibes? They are terrible. Even in light of Flagg’s positive development and clear star potential. It’s never been more clear the franchise is in desperate need of a leadership overhaul—something Dumont and the Adelsons seem to realize.

Ambitious front office targets reveal Mavericks’ desire for dramatic change

With Harrison shown the door the Mavericks have to hire somebody to oversee basketball decisions going forward. It is an incredibly important decision in a multitude of ways. Not only does Dallas have to find the right person to oversee Flagg’s career, that person also has to nail the upcoming draft because the Mavs don’t have control over their own pick again until 2031. Above all that person has to change the perception of the whole team from an unserious operation run by non-basketball minds who somehow didn’t understand how bad it would be to trade Luka Dončić into a legitimate NBA franchise that players should want to suit up for.

On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported on the names the Mavs have in mind for that role. Their aspirations show just how seriously they are taking this hire.

Per Mannix, Dumont will lead the search and his “wish list” includes the following names: Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and Celtics president Brad Stevens. Cavaliers president Koby Altman is “also in the mix.”

Thunder executive Sam Presti is on the Mavericks’ wish list as Dallas looks for a new figure to lead the front office, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reports. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Obviously those are some big names for any team’s wish list. Even with a blank check it seems almost impossible for the Mavs to lure Stevens out of Boston or Presti out of OKC given the title contenders they’ve made out of their respective teams. Connelly is on a similar plane of hoping against hope but did jump from the Nuggets to Minnesota somewhat recently. Altman isn’t thought of on the same level as the other names but is highly-regarded for the job he’s done building a contender from the ashes of another LeBron James exit in Cleveland.

But it’s not the names in particular that matter. The odds that Dallas ends up hiring someone not listed above are pretty high. The fact that the Mavs are aiming for the stars at all reflects ownership’s recognition that serious change must come to the organization if success is to be rediscovered. And with that success will come the quieting of outside noise, like Cuban’s viral comments from this week. It will not silence such noise but those comments wouldn’t be getting nearly as much attention if the team was in playoff contention right now.

There’s been no real plan in Dallas for a while now. The only priority has been damage control since the Dončić trade. That must change.

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