Billionaire Mark Cuban bought a majority stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks for $285 million back in January 2000. But in late 2023, Cuban sold his 72.3 percent stake in the team for $3.5 billion. While it ended up being a good ROI for him personally, his decision to offload the team wasn't done with dollar signs in mind.
The Shark Tank star opened up about his mindset in selling the team in a recent interview with GQ. Simply put, he wasn't thinking of himself, but his children and the possibility of them having to step into his shoes as team owner one day—and face the to-be-expected avalanche of criticism in that position.
"In a social media world today, the critics of the ownership of any professional sports team can be brutal," Cuban said. "I don’t want my kids potentially feeling the pressure to walk into my spot as owner and try to deal with that."
"When I bought the Mavs, it wasn’t a financial investment," the 66-year-old continued. "And honestly, selling it wasn’t something I was excited to do, but I thought it was the right time to do it. None of this was about economics; it was and is about matters of the heart."
Cuban's kids, meanwhile, are growing up fast. His oldest daughter Alexis is now 22, while his daughter Alyssa is now 18 and son Jake is 14. He emphasizes in his parenting that he doesn't want to raise spoiled brats.
"I tell them: After your health, my number-one thing for you all is I don’t want you to be entitled jerks," he told Steve Harvey in 2020. "I’m not going to write you checks. You don’t just get a credit card. You can’t just buy whatever you want."
Related: Mark Cuban Details His Surprisingly Normal Billionaire Morning Routine
The Mavericks' next game is against the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 9.
