The Dallas Mavericks have undergone a radical transformation since the heartbreak of the 2024 postseason, where a loss to the Boston Celtics signaled the end of an era. The decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 remains one of the most polarizing moments in league history.

While the move shocked the basketball world, it effectively reset the franchise’s trajectory. By sheer luck, or what some critics continue to call “rigged” fortune, the Mavericks secured the first overall pick in the 2025 draft, allowing them to select Cooper Flagg. 

Flagg has already proven to be a franchise-altering talent. Winning the Rookie of the Year award in the 2025-26 season, he became only the second rookie in the last 50 years to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

The current front office is now laser-focused on building a sustainable, long-term contender around Flagg, ensuring that the team avoids the structural missteps that ultimately limited the Doncic years. With a roster now defined by youthful energy and versatility, the Mavericks are positioning themselves for a future where Flagg serves as the undisputed face of the organization.

Mark Cuban’s Legal Battle Against Former Franchise

The landscape of Mavericks ownership is currently embroiled in legal friction. Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur who sold his majority stake in 2023, has filed a petition in Dallas County district court seeking sworn testimony from a corporate representative of the Arena Development Institute. 

The core of the dispute centers on the franchise’s pursuit of a new arena at the former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas.

Cuban alleges that the team’s new governor, Patrick Dumont, is systematically shutting him out of major business decisions. According to court filings, Cuban maintains that he was contractually entitled to participate in the Valley View investment opportunity, a deal he believes he should have had a hand in.

The tension stems from a handshake agreement Cuban claims he had with Dumont and majority owner Miriam Adelson upon the sale of his stake. Cuban asserts that the deal included his continued oversight of basketball operations, a role he claims was stripped away and handed to former GM Nico Harrison without his input.

The relationship has devolved into what Cuban describes as “adversarial business practices.” In a particularly blunt exchange, Cuban alleges that Dumont challenged his influence by asking, “Why would I give you control of a $4 billion asset?” despite Cuban still retaining a 27 percent stake in the team. 

While the team’s current management moves forward with plans for a new arena, slated to open for the 2031-32 season, Cuban is fighting to reclaim a seat at the table.

A Legacy of Transformation

Before this public fallout, Mark Cuban’s tenure as majority owner was defined by a total overhaul of the franchise’s culture. When he acquired the team in 2000, the Mavericks were largely an afterthought in the professional sports landscape.

His 24-year run as owner culminated in the franchise’s most glorious moment: the 2011 NBA Championship. Under his leadership, the Mavericks became a perennial playoff contender, fostering a standard of excellence that transformed the team into a global brand. 

Regardless of the current legal animosity, Cuban’s legacy remains the bedrock upon which the modern Mavericks were built.

Mark Cuban has gone to court over frustrations that he’s being kept in the dark about the Dallas Mavericks moving forward in their quest to build a new arena.

Cuban’s lawyers have filed a petition in Dallas County district court seeking sworn testimony from a corporate representative of the Arena Development Institute, a company formed by Mavericks ownership in Delaware.

In June, the Mavericks announced that they had entered into an option agreement for the potential purchase of 104 acres of land at the former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas.

The Mavericks’ lease at American Airlines Center expires in 2031, and the team hopes to move into a new building ahead of the 2031-32 season.

Cuban claims that this potential new arena deal could violate contracts he already has in place with the Mavericks’ owners in Texas.

In the document Cuban filed, he outlines his version of how he sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont, the Sands Corporation CEO who also serves as the Mavericks governor. Cuban said he began working with them in 2019 to pass gambling in Texas. Their goal at the time was to build a “Venetian style destination resort” somewhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

In 2023, Cuban officially sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to Adelson. Cuban said that they had a handshake agreement in place where he would remain in control of the Mavericks’ basketball decisions while Dumont would be in charge of the team’s business side.

“This handshake agreement was reiterated in multiple emails and orally in the presence of Dumont, Miriam Adelson, another NBA owner, and Mavericks employees,” Cuban’s legal action read.

The Athletic asked Cuban if he could produce these emails. Cuban replied, “Can’t say anything at all.”

Dumont, of course, leaned on former general manager Nico Harrison to make basketball decisions, which went well — at first. The Mavericks made separate moves for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, which resulted in them catching fire to close that season and making a surprise run to the NBA Finals.

But all of that goodwill was erased when Harrison decided to trade Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 — a failed move that eventually cost Harrison his job.

In May, Dumont hired Masai Ujiri — a championship-winning executive who spent 12 seasons running the Toronto Raptors — to take over in Dallas as president and alternate governor. Ujiri will clearly wield significant power in Dallas. In one of his first major moves, Ujiri chose to fire coach Jason Kidd, despite Kidd having more than $40 million remaining on his contract.

Cuban maintains a 27 percent stake in the Mavericks but has minimal say in the day-to-day operations of the team. In the petition Cuban filed in court, he claims that Dumont once told him, “Why would I give you control of a $4 billion asset?”

— Melody Gutierrez and Nathan Fenno contributed to this report