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The moves made this week by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had many people speculating that he was getting his personal and financial affairs in order for a run at the 2024 Presidential election.
First, he announced that he was leaving Shark Tank reality TV show after 16 seasons.
Then, on Tuesday, he dropped the bombshell news that he was selling the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands and the fifth richest woman in America.
This is not the first time Mark Cuban has been linked to possibly running for President of the United States.
In 2017, he said on OBJECTified that he was considering running against Donald Trump as a Republican.
His family reportedly “voted down” that idea.
So, is Mark Cuban going to run for President in 2024 now that he will be free from his TV show and owning a NBA franchise?
“No chance,” he told TMZ on Wednesday.
In an email to NBC News, Cuban said he has “no plans to run” and that his family “would disown me” if he did.
That’s the exact same thing he told NBC News back in July.
Cuban, it was reported, will continue to run basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks as part of the sale.
Interestingly, former Miami Marlins president David Samson, doesn’t see how that would be possible.
“There is simply no way this story can be true,” Samson wrote on X after the deal’s announcement. “He cannot keep control of the team after selling a majority stake.”
On Wednesday during his regular appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Samson still was unsure how that would work.
“It’s being reported everywhere and I don’t know why,” Samson said. “Because you can have a step transaction where there’s a path to control like what A-Rod is doing with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where you agree on a price and you pay installments and then when you’re done paying installments, you get control of the team and you’re a limited partner until you become the general partner.”
“That’s pretty common. But to sell the team outright, a majority share, and then still maintain control? I’ve never seen it. And I would find it extremely hard to believe that it is happening in this instance. I believe the reporting is wrong in this case.”