Mark Cuban to sell stake in Mavericks to Adelson family: Report

Mark Cuban, longtime, enthusiastic owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has reportedly decided to sell a majority stake in the NBA team to the Adelson family. It comes after Miriam Adelson, announced she will sell $2 billion worth of Las Vegas Sands (LVS) shares in order to purchase a sports team. According to the Associated Press, the deal is valued around $3.5 billion dollars and may take weeks to proceed. Yahoo Finance anchors Brad Smith and Seana Smith break down the latest with this development and what it means for the Mavericks, Cuban, and the Adelson family moving forward.

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Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Let's talk a little Las Vegas Sands shares. They are dropping this morning. And this comes after Mark Cuban is reportedly selling a majority stake of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, the largest shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands Resort chain. Cuban said last year that he hopes to partner with LV Sands to move the Mavericks to a new arena that would be in the middle of a resort and casino. Adelson is paying for the stake at about $3.5 billion valuation. Good news for Mark Cuban because guess what? He paid $285 million for the franchise back in 2000.

I could not wait to talk about this story.

SEANA SMITH: Please. You have the floor.

BRAD SMITH: We discussed it in our morning meeting, and a few of the things. And aside from how much Mark Cuban is essentially realizing on his return on investment for this company but the timing of this, amazingly important. We mentioned the fact that this is a potential move that we could see the Mavericks make at some point, likely sometime around 2031. That's when the actual lease that they have in Dallas for the Mavericks Stadium, that's when that runs out.

And so in the absence of that, and Mark Cuban has already said that there's less than 50% chance that they find somewhere else. So he's already seeing what's in the water and saying, OK, well, Las Vegas could be a good new home for the Dallas Mavericks. This could be a good time for me to cash out.

Mark Cuban has done an amazing job of really turning around the Mavericks organization, giving them an international type of prominence when you think about Dirk Nowitzki and how he is one of the European kind of Hall of Fame staples in the league's history here and giving the Dallas Mavericks that first championship as well.

So Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki, and the prominence that we had seen been able to come to the Dallas Mavericks franchise, getting that valuation up over years. Mark Cuban being one of the more outspoken, I will generously say, owners that's out there, and for good reason too. And bringing, I would say, a lot of other tech founders, CEOs, and people who have a lot of weight to throw around on the capital side into the league, and investing more, and making these teams think more about how they can be technologically savvy, how they can also grow out the business savvy of many of their players too.

I think he's been able to do that and change the entire fabric of the way that the league thinks about its players, the collective bargaining agreement, and that relationship. I think he's done a great job of that, and hopefully this new ownership too. Even if they were to move to Las Vegas, where they've already got some great teams, I hope that continues for them.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, certainly. I mean, Mark Cuban has, in all aspects, really been the face of the Dallas Mavericks here over the last several years.

BRAD SMITH: He might as well be the logo.

SEANA SMITH: He has done a tremendous job just in terms of transforming the team, everything that you just said. And it's also good news here just in terms of maybe what this could mean for the Mavericks going forward. And I say that because Mark Cuban, he's not going anywhere anytime soon. He's still owns a smaller stake here in the company. He's going to run the basketball operation. So he's still going to be very involved with the Mavericks, at least for right now.

Miriam Adelson, if our viewers maybe aren't as familiar with that name, now she is the widow. She was married to Sheldon Adelson, who had died just about two years ago, And he was the founder of Las Vegas Sands. And so she inherited over half of the shares, 56% of the shares of Las Vegas Sands when he did pass. So she's using some of that money selling $2 billion worth, you said, of the stock here in terms of funding this buying of the stake here from this purchase. I should say from Mark Cuban. So exactly what this means and if the Dallas Mavericks could be heading to Las Vegas, that's a talk right now.

BRAD SMITH: Could be joining the Aces.

SEANA SMITH: They would be joining the Aces.

BRAD SMITH: WNBA Aces who just won their WNBA championship.

SEANA SMITH: The Oakland A's are going there too. Las Vegas Raiders are there.

BRAD SMITH: There's teams out there.

SEANA SMITH: The Knights.

BRAD SMITH: The Knights. The Golden Knights.

SEANA SMITH: And they certainly have a loyal fan base. It didn't take long for that to happen.