In the wake of last November’s bombshell that Mark Cuban was selling a majority of the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, many deduced that the franchise was turning red — not in jersey color, but in ideology.
Republican red.
Yet 11 months later, amid one of the most polarizing presidential elections in American history, most fans would be hard-pressed to broad-brush the Mavericks in either major party’s hue.
It’s true Adelson, who owns 69% of the Mavericks, is a megadonor to GOP nominee Donald Trump. It’s also a fact that 27% Mavericks stakeholder Cuban is a high-profile supporter of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
In that regard, Dallas’ 44-year-old NBA franchise could be called the Bipartisan Mavericks, except Cuban told The Dallas Morning News his near-decade relationship with Adelson is apolitical.
“We haven’t really talked politics at all,” he said. “Just basketball.”
Perhaps that is a blueprint for American civility through the Nov. 5 election — and beyond, regardless of outcome.
The Mavericks franchise, with more than 200 employees, is little different than corporations, small businesses and even individual households throughout the country, where there is diverse and sometimes clashing political opinion.
From all appearances, nothing has changed in the Mavericks’ business operations or community-grounded principles, even as Adelson pours tens of millions into Republican coffers and fellow billionaire Cuban tenaciously stumps for Harris.
Take, for example, the Mavericks’ top two executives. Team governor Patrick Dumont is Adelson’s son-in-law and president of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, of which Adelson is the majority stakeholder. Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall attended the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention with husband Kenneth.
Side-by-side, Dumont and Marshall on Sept. 18 toured the For Oak Cliff community center and met with its board, three weeks after Dallas police officer Darron Burks was shot and killed in the 10-acre campus’ parking lot.
Dumont presented For Oak Cliff a $50,000 donation from Sands; Marshall a $50,000 check from the Mavericks. Dumont praised For Oak Cliff’s role in serving South Oak Cliff families through education and advocacy, while citing Marshall’s “superpower” for bringing people together.
Dumont told The News the Mavericks organization’s principles are little different than those of Sands Corp., which employs 38,000 people globally.
“I think we just operate to be successful,” he said. “And I think people have views that they have, and you can listen to them, and those views are their views. But I think these organizations last through politics.”
Last week in New York, Sands was a presenting partner sponsor of the annual Clinton Global Initiative — not due to political affiliation, but because the event aligned with Sands’ commitment to addressing economic, social and environmental issues.
“Las Vegas Sands is a public company,” Dumont said. “It wants to be a great local community contributor. It wants to do the right thing in the markets in which it operates, and we're very proud about our multi-decades track record of supporting local communities.
“And politics is politics, right? On the Dallas Mavericks side, again, we’re a very community-based organization. We’re part of the fabric here. We’re a sports team. It’s emotional following the Mavericks. ... We want to bring a championship to the city of Dallas. Everything else that happens, it’s on the sides. We’re focused on winning.”
“Your voice matters”
That isn’t to say the Mavericks franchise abstains from activism.
Entering the 2020 election, the Mavericks, Dallas Wings and G-League Texas Legends formed the Count It Coalition to encourage voter participation.
This Tuesday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Mavericks will host drive-through voter registration in their headquarters parking lot. Each person who gets in line and inquires about registration will receive free Mavs “swag.”
The Mavericks say their 2020 voter initiative helped result in a combined 32,237 ballots being cast at American Airlines Center during early and Election Day voting. This year AAC is not available as a polling location.
“We don’t tell people how to vote,” Marshall said. “What we’re saying is, ‘Your voice matters.’”
The Mavericks say in 2020 their website Mavs.com/vote had 726,000 page views in 2020. The site included voter registration details, education and voter mobilization and public service announcements from Mavericks players and local VIPs.
The Mavericks say their messaging in 2020 and in this election cycle is party-agnostic — outside and within team headquarters.
“Even as divisive as this stuff has been, all the chatter going on, I can honestly say we’ve had none of that in this building,” Marshall said. “In this building, we’re just Mavs’ blue and green.”
Last week, Mavericks employees gathered for their annual preseason meeting. The team’s training camp begins Tuesday and the Oct. 24 season opener looms.
“When I looked out over that room, I didn’t see (Republican) red; I didn’t see (Democratic) blue,” Marshall said. “I didn’t see black or brown. I saw 200 fabulous people. We’re one team. In fact my theme was, ‘Many runners, one team: Ready, set, go.’”
Cuban’s influence
While answering emailed questions from The News last week, Cuban was in his childhood hometown, Pittsburgh, to attend Vice President Harris’ speech to the Economic Club at Carnegie Mellon University.
Afterward, Cuban conducted multiple TV and online interviews, explaining why he believes Harris’ economic policies, in particular, are what America needs.
Although Cuban in one recent interview denounced Trump as “the most unethical, dishonest person I’ve ever done business with,” he reminded The News he supported Trump in 2015 and shortly after his 2016 election as president.
“I always remember I’m an American first and last,” Cuban said. “When Trump won in 2016, I helped him with health care, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), dealing with issues during the pandemic. I was proud I could help.
“I couldn’t care less about parties. I’m an independent and wish all parties went away. I care about this country and what I can do to make it better.”
According to campaign finance data, since Cuban’s January 2000 purchase of the Mavericks, he has made one political donation: $1,000 to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., in 2002.
With 8.9 million followers on X and pop culture visibility, any opinion Cuban expresses has a bullhorn effect. But he said that should not be construed as speaking for, or to, his thousands of Cuban Companies employees — including at the Mavericks, his CostPlus Drug Company and his numerous Shark Tank companies.
“I’ve always let people make their own voting decisions; we just try to encourage people to vote,” he said, adding, “Nor have I ever asked anyone at any of my companies — including the Mavs — to donate to any political cause, other than the Mavs Foundation.”
The Adelson’s side
During election cycles, Adelson generally makes her political feelings known through substantial campaign contributions, not words.
She has in recent months declined all interview requests, including The News, through a spokesperson.
On Sept. 19, however, Adelson and Trump addressed the Israeli-American Council in Washington, D.C. Trump condemned antisemitism and spoke of ways his administration would combat it, if he’s elected.
“We Jews are a purposeful people, and President Trump is [a] purposeful man,” Adelson said during her 13-minute speech. “He is a true friend of the Jewish people.”
In 2020, Miriam Adelson and her husband, Sands Corp. founder Sheldon Adelson, contributed a reported $110 million to Trump and other Republican candidates.
Sheldon Adelson died in 2021, but Miriam Adelson reportedly has pledged to contribute about $100 million to Trump and other Republicans this election cycle.
“All of us Jews must vote for him,” Miriam Adelson said when introducing Trump to the Israeli-American Council. “It is our sacred duty, in gratitude for everything he has done and trust in everything he will yet due.”
Trump, who in 2018 awarded Sheldon Adelson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for decades of efforts to help people fight substance abuse, called Miriam Adelson “a great lady.”
In late 2022, then-Brooklyn Nets star guard Kyrie Irving was suspended by team owner Joseph Tsai for initially not apologizing while declaring, “I’m not going to stand down on anything,” after he tweeted a link to a 2018 film that many regard to be antisemitic.
Irving later apologized via Instagram, “to all Jewish families and communities that are hurt and affected from my post.” Irving has avoided controversy since his February 2023 trade to the Mavericks, including since the NBA approved Adelson’s purchase of the franchise last Dec. 27.
There has been no indication during the Adelson-Dumont ownership that Mavericks players have been dissuaded from expressing personal beliefs, as evidenced by Irving on multiple occasions wearing a Keffiyeh headdress, which many construed as supporting the Palestinian cause in its conflict with Israel.
And it’s not as if Adelson’s ownership deterred the franchise’s CEO from attending August’s Democratic Convention.
Marshall said her belief system as a CEO has not changed from her many years as an AT&T executive, during which she attended the Republican as well as the Democratic conventions to engage with policymakers.
“We don’t see red; we don’t see blue; we see green,” she said. “Our company needs to be profitable so that we can take care of our employees, our retirees, our dependents, our fans, the community. We need to put our money to good use and we are about business-friendly policy-makers.”
Come Nov. 6, regardless of the election’s outcome, it’s likely roughly half of American voters will feel elation and probably relief.
Conversely, the nation’s other half will feel disappointment and in many cases anger and disillusionment.
No NBA games will be played on Nov. 5, as part of the league’s mission to encourage fans to vote. On the night of Nov. 6, the Mavericks will host Chicago in American Airlines Center.
“We are going to come back on the 6th and we’re gonna make everybody happy,” Marshall said. “Maybe 50% of America will not have gotten their candidate elected. Who knows?
“But 100% of people sitting in the AAC — unless they’re from Chicago — we’re gonna be rooting for the same team. Then we want that to translate that we’re all Americans and we’re all gonna root for the same team.
“The American team. That’s my two cents.”
Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
