Should Mavs Use 'Enemy' Mark Cuban As Masai Ujiri Consultant?

DALLAS - Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

Same with business. Same with basketball.

So it's easy to understand why the "modern'' Dallas Mavericks have very little to do with long-time "Mavs Man'' Mark Cuban, whose purchase of the franchise a quarter-century ago pumped life - and championship play - into a sleepy organization.

But Cuban's recent note - that in the last three months since the hiring of Masai Ujiri, the team president and Cuban have spoken just once, on the phone, for about 120 seconds - still seems to be to be a misuse, a waste, of an asset.

I broke the story on July 8 when Cuban's companies filed a Rule 202 pre-suit petition against new owner Patrick Dumont in Dallas County District Court on over the franchise's planned arena development. ... and the allegation that Dumont is wrongly freezing Cuban out of the process.

So I can understand why all parties aren't lovey-dovey.

And yet ... Cuban still owns 27 percent of the team.

That doesn't mandate that he "deserves'' a voice in anything.

But I will argue that Cuban's skill set, his experience and his passion for the Mavs and for DFW is an asset that the new leadership should take advantage of.

Cuban, for his part, is miffed about being shut out of the business end of things but isn't surprised that he's no longer got a voice in basketball matters.

"I absolutely expected it when they hired Masai," Cuban recently said via the Dallas Morning News  "That's why they hired him. To run basketball."

"I absolutely expected it when they hired Masai," Cuban said. "That's why they hired him. To run basketball."

Ujiri was named president of basketball operations and alternate governor on May 4, ending a search that ran several months. ... and in the judgment of most observers, the rebuilding process has gone well from there.

Ujiri, 55, is trying to put the previous administration's disastrous Luka Doncic trade in the rear-view mirror, relying on his history as a winner.

Running the Denver Nuggets, he was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2012-13. He returned to Toronto the following season and built the roster that won the 2019 championship. His teams in Denver and Toronto went 690-504 and reached the playoffs in 12 of his 15 seasons in charge.

Fifteen days after Ujiri's hiring, the Mavericks and coach Jason Kidd agreed to part ways, Ujiri saying the franchise "needed a clean slate to go forward."

Obviously, Dumont and the Adelson ownership family has every right to view the erasure of Cuban's involvement as part of their own "clean slate.'' ... especially in light of the legal conflict and Cuban's assertion that Dumont's overseeing of the team's planned stadium move from downtown to Valley View and its "non-disclosure (to Cuban) is consistent with Dumont’s adversarial business practices and history of failing to uphold his end of the bargain.''

In other words, the two big-money guys are now "enemies.''

I know. I know. After that, everybody is supposed to pal up and pull together in the same direction? That's a challenge.

Along the way of going forward ...

Mike Schmitz was hired as general manager days after Ujiri's introductory news conference. Michigan's Dusty May was named head coach on June 23, a day before the NBA Draft, and was introduced on June 29.

Ujiri has said the offseason would be built around the future of the roster rather than the present. Dallas finished 26-56 last season. Cooper Flagg averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals and won Rookie of the Year. All-time talent Kyrie Irving is returning from a torn ACL

"We want,'' Ujiri said recently, "to bring joy back to basketball here.''

Mark Cuban once accomplished that very same thing here in his adopted hometown. Maybe it would benefit the "modern'' Mavs - after a big swallow of pride from all involved - to invite him to contribute more than 120 seconds of time to help do it again.