September 10, 2025 • 7 mins
"Did Mark Cuban really lose control of the Mavericks… or did he get sharked by his own deal?"In this explosive and revealing segment of The Ben and Skin Show, hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray unpack the most candid comments yet from Mark Cuban, who publicly admits:“Yeah, I f***ed up.”Cuban’s raw confession at the All-In Summit sparks a deep dive into the behind-the-scenes power dynamics that reshaped the Dallas Mavericks. The crew breaks down how Nico Harrison allegedly wrestled control of basketball operations, the implications of Cuban becoming a minority owner, and the emotional fallout from the Luka Doncic trade.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Mount around the sports, KTD twins as all the sports.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
All right, there we go.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Mark Cuban was at something called the All Tech Summit,
the all in Summit, I'm sorry, all in Summit.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And he's hanging out with some dudes in suits.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
He's wearing, you know, just a T shirt and some
casual comfortable golf pants cubes. Not a T shirt. Actually
it was a college shirt, doesn't matter. The guys around
him are all tech guys and suits. I think the
All in Summit some type of business thing. And he
said this, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You sold the team.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
There was this idea that you would still be involved
to some extent.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Unpack it. Yeah, I mean that Blue Boys care He said, yeah,
I afked up extend.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Unpacking Yeah, I mean when I did the deal, the
presumption was that I would still be running basketball, and
we tried to put it in the contract, but the
NBA that the governor as the governor and they make
all final decisions. I was involved, and then we went
on this run where we went to the finals, and
rather than trying to interject myself all the time, right,
(01:11):
I was like, I don't want to get in the
way we're rolling. And that was a mistake. There was
some you know, some things that happened internally where you know,
the person who traded Luca didn't want me there and
so they won. I lost.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, that's in the past.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm still hardcore MAVs MFFL.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
That's the first time I've heard him say that publicly. Yeah,
I didn't get to watch. Maybe you saw it then
the whole thing where he sat down with DLLs and
I know they got into some of the stuff, but
you know, that's the first time I've heard him say
it that plainly, that Nico didn't want him involved. I
think that was always an assumption unless that's been somewhere
else and I missed it. Right.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
It's almost like he's painting a picture that Okay, they're
rolling during that time, so he's not trying to insert
himself in anything. And while they're having success, Nico wrestled
that power away, developed a better relationship with Ownership, and
then he's almost saying that Nico convinced Ownership that they
don't need Mark Cuban, that Nico himself can do it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, and you know, if you want to be a
hard ass like he is on that TV show, he
got sharped. I mean, it sounds like he trusted the
people he did the deal with. And the thing that
on DLLs that I remember now specifically is that he
doesn't regret selling the team. He regrets not putting it
(02:32):
up to the highest bidder, which you know, it doesn't
take a lot of detective work to figure out that
that whole thing was a very internal inside job. I mean,
I remember the day the news broke, we were doing
a game. Dirk was actually there, he was going to
join us to do the game, and as the news broke,
I mean I had heard a few things here and there,
but I didn't think news was going to come down
(02:53):
that day. And it was pretty wild, and I was
standing there with like three or four different media people
and Cuban was giving us all the detail, breaking it
all down. But you know, when he says the governor
is the governor, that means the governor decides who's running
basketball operations. And if they didn't give him a contract
to be president of basketball operations or whatever title you
(03:16):
want to call it, they sold the team and he's
a minority owner and that's that, and he trusted him,
it sounds like and got burned.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Right and you know, what, do you make three billion,
three five?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I can't remember the exact number.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
That sounds about right, and it's it's got to be
hard if you're steering three billion in the face and
you still get to own almost thirty percent of it.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Granted, if he had waited and had shopped it probably
would got probably would have gotten more money.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
He would have gotten more. I mean, if you just
look at what's happened to the two teams after he
sold Celtics and Lakers. Lakers went for ten bill. Yeah,
ten bill.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And it'll also be tempting, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And there's a lot of branches to this, but I
think it would be tempting if you are Mark Cuban
and you're the type who's doing a bunch of interviews,
got a lot of irons and a lot of different fires,
it would be tipting when you're asked about this to say, yeah,
the guy who made the Luca trade didn't want me
around anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Like I can see where it might feel good to
even say that.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I think, like, I think you're right, but also like,
keep in mind, he's answered this question twenty five times. Yeah,
but it's more and it's evolving. Yeah, the answer is evolving.
And I think that can be a lot of different reasons.
Maybe it's a self realization on his part. Maybe he
was more hesitant to put stuff out there, or maybe
now he looks back on it, and I think that
that's a little bit of what that DLLs thing is.
(04:34):
When he said I handled it poorly, and he said
it right there, I fed up. I think he probably
regrets Luca getting traded more than he regrets not getting
every dollar.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I bet you're right.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Yeah, I'd be curious to hear his thoughts on that,
because I know he was he you know, people were
coming at him going, man, you turned your back on us. Look,
these guys traded Luca. It's your fault because you just
wanted to line your pockets. He's like, what are you
talking about? I lost money every year?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And I think probably to your point, been like, as
he's thinking through all this, if he had gotten in
writing that he signs off on basketball decisions, Luca would
have never been traded because he wouldn't have allowed it.
But you know, once Mark became a minority owner, that's
what he is. He is a minority owner of a
sports franchise. No different than when David McDavid was minority
(05:21):
owner of the Maverick.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Same thing.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Nobody ever checked with David McDavid as to whether or
not we should trade Jason Kidd, And once he became that,
then Nico, who's been a part of Nike and big organizations,
is like, I see what the organizational flow chart is here.
This is what I want to do. This is my job,
and this is what I'm going to do. I don't
need to check with Mark Cuban, I don't need to
check with anybody. I'm going to do this. I checked
(05:43):
with Patrick Dumont. If he's okay with it, I'm going
to do it quickly. The NBA's opening up their investigation
on Kawhi Leonard today. There's a big article in the
Toronto Star that says when Kawhi was a free agent
in twenty nineteen, after they'd won the title with the Raptors,
the Lakers, Clippers and Raptors were trying to get him.
Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star wrote this. The corner
sources Kawai's uncle Dennis, who was basically running the deal
(06:07):
at the time. YEP, his list of wants was long
and absurd. It included a trade for Paul George, which
they ended up getting with the Clippers, and a slice
of ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Uncle Dennis also
asked for ownership stakes and outside companies not just the Leafs,
and the Raptors were told they need to match at
least ten million per year in extra sponsorship income. Teams
(06:28):
are not allowed to introduce players to team sponsor. They
are allowed to introduce players to team sponsors, but they
can't do deals. So when told all about the corporate.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Sponsorships, the Lakers and Raptors were like, no, like, we
don't want to do that, Like, we're not.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Doing that, We're not going to comvent the salary cap.
We're like yeah, And the Clippers did it.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And that's why once the Rafters realized, they basically wanted
him to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Do no show jobs. This is my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
When told about the corporate sponsors in Toronto, who would
be happy to have Kawhi Leonard as a pitchman, Uncle
Dennis said, we don't want to do anything. Raptors representatives said,
any sponsor would want to shoot ads or arrange some appearances.
Uncle Dennis reiterated that Kawhi Leonard didn't want to do
anything for the money. That's when the Raptors realized they
were being asked to arrange no show jobs. And then
(07:18):
he signed with the Clippers, so further proof that what
the Clippers.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Have done here is bad. They look good and they're
they're busted. Doesn't look good.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
All right, there you have it, there's around the sports.
Don't forget. Travis Frederick joins us today at five point thirty.
We cussed the Cowboys coming up at five o'clock. Are
they about to get Jadavion Clowney? All that is coming
your way, But coming up next in the food news,
the Cowboys are rolling out some new menu items at AT
and T Stadium.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Will discuss next
Mount around the sports, KTD twins as all the sports.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
All right, there we go.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Mark Cuban was at something called the All Tech Summit,
the all in Summit, I'm sorry, all in Summit.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And he's hanging out with some dudes in suits.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
He's wearing, you know, just a T shirt and some
casual comfortable golf pants cubes. Not a T shirt. Actually
it was a college shirt, doesn't matter. The guys around
him are all tech guys and suits. I think the
All in Summit some type of business thing. And he
said this, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You sold the team.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
There was this idea that you would still be involved
to some extent.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Unpack it. Yeah, I mean that Blue Boys care He said, yeah,
I afked up extend.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Unpacking Yeah, I mean when I did the deal, the
presumption was that I would still be running basketball, and
we tried to put it in the contract, but the
NBA that the governor as the governor and they make
all final decisions. I was involved, and then we went
on this run where we went to the finals, and
rather than trying to interject myself all the time, right,
(01:11):
I was like, I don't want to get in the
way we're rolling. And that was a mistake. There was
some you know, some things that happened internally where you know,
the person who traded Luca didn't want me there and
so they won. I lost.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, that's in the past.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I'm still hardcore MAVs MFFL.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
That's the first time I've heard him say that publicly. Yeah,
I didn't get to watch. Maybe you saw it then
the whole thing where he sat down with DLLs and
I know they got into some of the stuff, but
you know, that's the first time I've heard him say
it that plainly, that Nico didn't want him involved. I
think that was always an assumption unless that's been somewhere
else and I missed it. Right.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
It's almost like he's painting a picture that Okay, they're
rolling during that time, so he's not trying to insert
himself in anything. And while they're having success, Nico wrestled
that power away, developed a better relationship with Ownership, and
then he's almost saying that Nico convinced Ownership that they
don't need Mark Cuban, that Nico himself can do it.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, and you know, if you want to be a
hard ass like he is on that TV show, he
got sharped. I mean, it sounds like he trusted the
people he did the deal with. And the thing that
on DLLs that I remember now specifically is that he
doesn't regret selling the team. He regrets not putting it
(02:32):
up to the highest bidder, which you know, it doesn't
take a lot of detective work to figure out that
that whole thing was a very internal inside job. I mean,
I remember the day the news broke, we were doing
a game. Dirk was actually there, he was going to
join us to do the game, and as the news broke,
I mean I had heard a few things here and there,
but I didn't think news was going to come down
(02:53):
that day. And it was pretty wild, and I was
standing there with like three or four different media people
and Cuban was giving us all the detail, breaking it
all down. But you know, when he says the governor
is the governor, that means the governor decides who's running
basketball operations. And if they didn't give him a contract
to be president of basketball operations or whatever title you
(03:16):
want to call it, they sold the team and he's
a minority owner and that's that, and he trusted him,
it sounds like and got burned.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Right and you know, what, do you make three billion,
three five?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I can't remember the exact number.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
That sounds about right, and it's it's got to be
hard if you're steering three billion in the face and
you still get to own almost thirty percent of it.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Granted, if he had waited and had shopped it probably
would got probably would have gotten more money.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
He would have gotten more. I mean, if you just
look at what's happened to the two teams after he
sold Celtics and Lakers. Lakers went for ten bill. Yeah,
ten bill.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And it'll also be tempting, I think.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
And there's a lot of branches to this, but I
think it would be tempting if you are Mark Cuban
and you're the type who's doing a bunch of interviews,
got a lot of irons and a lot of different fires,
it would be tipting when you're asked about this to say, yeah,
the guy who made the Luca trade didn't want me
around anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Like I can see where it might feel good to
even say that.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
I think, like, I think you're right, but also like,
keep in mind, he's answered this question twenty five times. Yeah,
but it's more and it's evolving. Yeah, the answer is evolving.
And I think that can be a lot of different reasons.
Maybe it's a self realization on his part. Maybe he
was more hesitant to put stuff out there, or maybe
now he looks back on it, and I think that
that's a little bit of what that DLLs thing is.
(04:34):
When he said I handled it poorly, and he said
it right there, I fed up. I think he probably
regrets Luca getting traded more than he regrets not getting
every dollar.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I bet you're right.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Yeah, I'd be curious to hear his thoughts on that,
because I know he was he you know, people were
coming at him going, man, you turned your back on us. Look,
these guys traded Luca. It's your fault because you just
wanted to line your pockets. He's like, what are you
talking about? I lost money every year?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And I think probably to your point, been like, as
he's thinking through all this, if he had gotten in
writing that he signs off on basketball decisions, Luca would
have never been traded because he wouldn't have allowed it.
But you know, once Mark became a minority owner, that's
what he is. He is a minority owner of a
sports franchise. No different than when David McDavid was minority
(05:21):
owner of the Maverick.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Same thing.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Nobody ever checked with David McDavid as to whether or
not we should trade Jason Kidd, And once he became that,
then Nico, who's been a part of Nike and big organizations,
is like, I see what the organizational flow chart is here.
This is what I want to do. This is my job,
and this is what I'm going to do. I don't
need to check with Mark Cuban, I don't need to
check with anybody. I'm going to do this. I checked
(05:43):
with Patrick Dumont. If he's okay with it, I'm going
to do it quickly. The NBA's opening up their investigation
on Kawhi Leonard today. There's a big article in the
Toronto Star that says when Kawhi was a free agent
in twenty nineteen, after they'd won the title with the Raptors,
the Lakers, Clippers and Raptors were trying to get him.
Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star wrote this. The corner
sources Kawai's uncle Dennis, who was basically running the deal
(06:07):
at the time. YEP, his list of wants was long
and absurd. It included a trade for Paul George, which
they ended up getting with the Clippers, and a slice
of ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Uncle Dennis also
asked for ownership stakes and outside companies not just the Leafs,
and the Raptors were told they need to match at
least ten million per year in extra sponsorship income. Teams
(06:28):
are not allowed to introduce players to team sponsor. They
are allowed to introduce players to team sponsors, but they
can't do deals. So when told all about the corporate.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Sponsorships, the Lakers and Raptors were like, no, like, we
don't want to do that, Like, we're not.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Doing that, We're not going to comvent the salary cap.
We're like yeah, And the Clippers did it.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
And that's why once the Rafters realized, they basically wanted
him to.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Do no show jobs. This is my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
When told about the corporate sponsors in Toronto, who would
be happy to have Kawhi Leonard as a pitchman, Uncle
Dennis said, we don't want to do anything. Raptors representatives said,
any sponsor would want to shoot ads or arrange some appearances.
Uncle Dennis reiterated that Kawhi Leonard didn't want to do
anything for the money. That's when the Raptors realized they
were being asked to arrange no show jobs. And then
(07:18):
he signed with the Clippers, so further proof that what
the Clippers.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Have done here is bad. They look good and they're
they're busted. Doesn't look good.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
All right, there you have it, there's around the sports.
Don't forget. Travis Frederick joins us today at five point thirty.
We cussed the Cowboys coming up at five o'clock. Are
they about to get Jadavion Clowney? All that is coming
your way, But coming up next in the food news,
the Cowboys are rolling out some new menu items at AT
and T Stadium.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Will discuss next
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