NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Speaks on New Mavs Ownership, Mark Cuban
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks became the most recent NBA franchise to change ownership, with the Adelson-Dumont group purchasing a majority stake from Mark Cuban earlier this season.
During his press conference at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked a two-part question regarding the Mavs' new majority ownership group. He was asked if the Mavs' new ownership group signals a deeper involvement in the league's relationship with gaming due to the new ownership group's involvement with the Las Vegas Sands corporation, along with his reflections on Cuban's time as a majority owner.
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Silver made clear that while the Adelson-Dumont ownership group has a connection with the gaming industry, it doesn't mean the NBA has plans to deepen its relationship on that front.
"On Adelson-Dumont ownership, no, I don't think that signals any increase in gaming for the league," Silver said. "They have gaming interests, but those are independent of their interest in owning the team."
"As we always say, you sort of park your day job,' Silver explained. "It's one of the reasons why we have in place the salary system we do, so that whatever you're doing off the court is independent of the rules that you're operating under, and all of our gaming rules will apply to the Adelson-Dumont families in the same way they do to other people."
The interest Mavs Governor Patrick Dumont has in basketball has been apparent for years, considering their expressed interest in owning a franchise. With how the Las Vegas Sands corporation operates globally, including in Macau, Indonesia, and Singapore, it aligns with the NBA's vision.
"Also, if you look at the governor Patrick Dumont's lifelong interest in basketball, he's somebody who's been talking to the league for years about potential team ownership, about their level of interest," Silver said. "They operate on a global basis. All the things I talked about earlier in terms of these fantastic attributes of the NBA are things that they're very focused on."
Cuban, who held a majority ownership stake in the Mavs for 24 years, is remembered as helping advance the league with his focus on technological improvements, dating back to a memorable technology summit in February of 2000 in San Francisco. Since that point, Silver has held a "very close" relationship with Cuban.
"In terms of Mark, he's had an incredible impact on this league. I have been with the league through his entire tenure of his ownership, from his earliest days in the league. He pushed us hard," Silver said. "He came in as a technologist. I think it was almost precisely in 2000, right around -- I was saying this on Friday with our Technology Summit, we began those Technology Summits in 2000 in San Francisco. I believe Mark was a panelist on our first one, and I think he was every year, and he's someone that I've built a very close relationship over the years.
"Despite some of the back-and-forth with Mark and David [Stern] publicly and a little bit with me, there's always been very respectful relationships," Silver explained. "I think he pushed us to be more — early days, not just more focused on technology but more of a marketing organization was something that he always cared about."
The care Cuban has placed into helping the NBA's officiating program is another area where Silver highlighted his impact. Despite some public exchanges with the NBA over such topics over the years, the league acknowledges his impact in that area.
"Certainly on the basketball side, again, putting aside some of the public stuff, I know he's cared a lot about the officiating program," Silver said. "Again, behind closed doors, we've worked together. He'll speak for himself. I'm not saying we've satisfied him all along the way. He's been frustrated over aspects of the game.
"But he's truly been a game-changing owner in this league, and he's had great success, obviously, with a championship but also competitive teams most of the time during his tenure. And he's been a very active participant in league matters, whether it's been our media committee or Board of Governors meetings. He's never hesitated to speak his mind.
Silver mentioned that despite not being the Governor of the Mavs — the representative who participates in league meetings — Cuban has frequently communicated with him to share ideas as he always has.
"I'm pleased that he's still — he's not the controlling governor of the team anymore, but he's still a very significant investor in the Dallas Mavericks as he's made clear he's not going anywhere," Silver said. "If you just tune into a game, he still seems to be standing in the same spot he was when he was the governor, and he continues to text, email, call us at the league office when he has something he wants to share with us."
