DALLAS — The sports world was taken by storm Tuesday night after news broke that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban would be selling the franchise to the Las Vegas-based casino magnate Miriam Adelson and her family.
The would-be new owners issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon confirming their intention to take over governorship of the franchise.
Notably, this announcement came days after news broke that Cuban would be leaving Shark Tank, which is about to enter its 16th season.
The burning question Mavs fans and sports pundits are trying to get answered: Why these moves? Why back to back? Why now? What is going on?
In the case of his Shark Tank departure, Cuban told WFAA he wanted to spend more time with his family.
"Just to spend more time with my kids," he said. "They are 14, 17 and 20. I want to be able to spend summers with them before they are on their own."
After the Mavs sale began circulating in the news, however, people began speculating about other potential reasons.
Let's address them here.
Is Mark Cuban thinking about running for President? Is his health OK?
The loudest "rumor" hitting the Internet is that Cuban is distancing himself from his other obligations to open himself up for a run for president.
Another prominent theory is that he must be enduring some sort of health issue.
Each of these suggestions has been dispelled, however.
Sources close to Cuban confirmed to WFAA's Joe Trahan that Cuban's departure from "Shark Tank" and his reported sale of a stake in the Mavericks are neither the result of any health concerns nor anything to do with a desire to run for president.
Is Mark Cuban trying to bring sports gambling and casinos to Texas?
It's unclear at this point whether this is the main motivation, but the tea leaves of the situation seem to point this direction.
Consider who Cuban is selling the team to: Miriam Adelson and her step-son Patrick Dumont. Who is Miriam Adelson, you ask? Adelson is the fifth-richest woman in the world, according to Forbes. She and her family have a reported net worth of $35 billion. You can follow WFAA's deep-dive into her life history here. But the main takeaway for the purposes of this article? She and their family made their money through their ownership and operation of the international casino company Las Vegas Sands Corp.
While the news of Cuban selling a greater than 50 percent interest in the Mavericks is a shock, it's perhaps not a surprise that he would partner with a Las Vegas business partner for the franchise's future.
Last year, while discussion long-term plans for the Mavericks, Cuban told the Dallas Morning News that he wanted the Mavericks' next home arena in Dallas to be "in the middle of a resort and casino."
He even specifically namedropped that his "goal" would be to "partner with the Las Vegas Sands" in doing so.
For years now, and as recently as earlier this month, Cuban has also spoken openly about his desire to legalize gambling in Texas.
Las Vegas Sands has been advocating for the same in recent years, lobbying politicians in the process to little success. While Texas legislators have shown an openness to allowing sports gambling in the state, efforts to legalize casinos in Texas earlier this year failed to make it out of the Texas House of Representatives.
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