Mark Cuban is accusing Dallas Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont of shutting him out of business opportunities tied to a proposed move of the franchise out of downtown Dallas. The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday that Cuban alleges Dumont has engaged in what the filing calls “adversarial business practices” as the team pursues a relocation roughly 10 miles north to the former site of a shuttered Dallas mall.The dispute centers on a Rule 202 petition, a pre-suit legal tool used to force disclosure of records and testimony before a lawsuit is formally filed. Cuban’s companies argue they’re contractually entitled to participate in the new development, which the filing describes as a rare investment opportunity now being kept from them.
What did Mark Cuban say about Patrick Dumont ?
FILE – Dallas Mavericks Gov. Patrick Dumont, center, arrives for a news conference at the team’s basketball practice facility, June 27, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks in 2023 to the families of Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law, Dumont. According to the newspaper’s reporting, Cuban says he had an agreement to keep running basketball operations after the sale, but that Dumont instead handed full control of the basketball side to then-general manager Nico Harrison. Cuban has said he learned of Harrison’s plan to send Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 only after it was too late to intervene, a trade that ranks among the most polarizing in modern NBA history.That trade did not age well for Dallas. Harrison was fired in November following a slow start to the 2025-26 season, a move that came after months of fan backlash over losing Doncic. Cuban still owns about 27% of the franchise, though the original purchase agreement includes a clause letting the Adelson and Dumont families buy another 20% of his remaining stake, a detail that underscores how limited his current influence over the club actually is.The filing arrives roughly a month after the Mavericks signed an option agreement to purchase around 104 acres in north Dallas, the site earmarked for a new arena targeted to open in 2031, when the team’s lease at American Airlines Center expires. Dallas has played downtown since entering the league as an expansion franchise in 1980, so a relocation carries real weight beyond the business dispute itself.
Fans react to Mark Cuban’s allegations over Patrick Dumont
FILE – Mark Cuban talks with reporters after an event at the White House, May 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
Reaction on social media split sharply along the same lines that have defined the Doncic trade fallout for over a year. User @NicoLAcollusion argued Cuban had damaged his own Dallas legacy, while @hoopaflagg sided with Dumont, saying “Cuban was beyond arrogant to think he could sell the team and still get to tell the new owner what to do.”Others weren’t as harsh. User @Zach1234FIF credited Cuban’s ownership tenure for delivering a championship despite the messy exit, and @All_Things_Mavs questioned whether an unwritten handshake deal would hold up as legal leverage at all.
Dallas Mavericks have endured a rough patch following Luka Doncic trade
Neither the Mavericks nor Cuban has commented publicly beyond the court filing itself. A team spokeswoman declined to address the allegations when contacted by The Associated Press. What happens next likely hinges on whether the Rule 202 petition succeeds in forcing Dumont and the Adelson-controlled arena entity to turn over records, records that could shape whether Cuban’s dispute becomes a full lawsuit or fades as another chapter in a fractured ownership relationship still playing out in public.
