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LOS ANGELES – Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said he could not smother a smile when asked about the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers.
"The more they are fucked, the happier I am," Cuban told ESPN. "But I think the same thing for all the other franchises that are not in Dallas.We all live there.Each franchise undergoes cycles, and when your slowdown cycle strikes you, it's never fun."
While Cuban offered support for Lakers ownership – "I love Jeanie," he said of Los Angeles-based majority owner and governor Jeanie Buss – he was appalled by the former president of the city. team, Magic Johnson, who said on ESPN's First Take last month that he would be interested in buying the team.
"It's a bit selfish," Cuban said. "I do not think Magic could afford them, and that's not a disrespect for Magic, which reflects how good Jeanie has done."
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Cuban was in town for the Social Innovation Summit, which was held approximately 800 meters from the Staples Center.
Cubans can understand the struggles of the Lakers. Dallas is in crisis, having failed to participate in the playoffs in the last three seasons, after qualifying for the playoffs, 15 of the first 16 years after the team's purchase in 2000. The drought of the Lakers lasted six years.
"I feel bad for Jeanie, personally, because he's a great person," said Cuban. "I do not have more sympathy for the Lakers than for us."
Cuban is the father of three children. Alexis, her eldest daughter, age 15, is barely younger than Jeanie Buss when she began working for her father's professional sports franchises, Jerry Buss. Cuban said he could understand the family dynamics at play at L.A.
"Jeanie is smart," said Cuban. "I think, not speak for Jeanie, but the most difficult thing for Jeanie was that it's the family, and so there will be a moment when my children [take over], or not my children, and I have to make a decision on how to integrate my family and who to assume what role, and it will not be easy.
"So, Jeanie had to balance all that, and it's a credit for her to make her decisions, she followed them and she made the difficult calls, so Jeanie has all the credit in the world. And unless it's really hard to understand.How to balance a family's personal problems with what you want to do for an organization? It's almost impossible to make those decisions, and Jeanie had to coping with that, and she did her best, then she deserves a ton of credit. "
Speaking of the enemy of the Western Mav Conference just hours before the third match of the NBA finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors, Cuban said that the attention Lakers was obvious.
"That's just the nature of the beast," Cuban said. "If some players were not at the Lakers, you would not have the same conversations, you did not talk about the five years ago, there are just a lot of big names associated with them, and that makes things different. " "
Cuban has been careful to refrain from mentioning the biggest name, LeBron James, to avoid any potential forgery.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently declared on NBC channel "Today" that James was missing the playoffs and playing in the West rather than in the Eastern Conference. had "clearly affected the ratings".
Cuban was not in agreement.
"In terms of ratings and things like that, we are now in a different world," he said. "I do not think it affects the notes at all."
In developing his point, Cuban admitted that adjusting the start times of games, whether James plays it or not, in order to meet the largest number of potential viewers, would be a smart practice for the league.
"What is the best start time for the standings because we do not have to worry about people coming to the games – no matter what time they show up, they will show up" , did he declare. then fans who attend a live game would make the necessary adjustments to attend a playoff game or a final draw for that experience, regardless of the time of the festivities.
As for the regular season?
"Adam [Silver] "We are making far more money with the television than with the tickets," said Cuban, citing the TV deal between ESPN and TNT during the 2024-25 season, for an annual amount of 2 , 66 billion dollars. "So, it's our biggest client." And most importantly, given the changes with streaming and all the rest and the demographic makeup of the television, we have to look at that with a lot of attention. First optimizing the television, because even in a regular season game, there are great start times and people show up. "
Cuban also took advantage of his address at the Social Innovation Summit to address lessons learned from last year 's independent survey on Mavericks culture, which had revealed that more people than ever attended the event. a dozen women had been victims of sexual harassment while they were employed by the organization. allegations.
"Personally, do what's right," he says. "If you do the right thing, you advocate inherently, and you get things done the right way." At the Dallas Mavericks, I was a landlord who was absent from a lot of points of view and messed up. the diversity needed and learned a lot from it, but it also allowed me to recognize that diversity is not just about checklists and a sufficient number of people, but it is about use as a business opportunity. "
"I think when you do what's right," Cuban added, "you do not necessarily need to mobilize to defend big media issues or big issues that people are talking about, but you're building a platform foundation for the good thing to happen, and that's what i'm trying to do. "
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