(*20*)Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban may be grooming Sheldon Adelson’s 20-something son to run the NBA team after the shock sale to the late casino magnate’s family, The Post has learned.
(*20*)Cuban, who sources say considered Adelson a mentor, is anticipated to maintain operational control of the franchise despite agreeing to sell his majority stake in a deal that values the Mavs at around $3.5 billion.
(*20*)Sources told The Post that Cuban’s understudy will be Matan Adelson, a Stanford graduate who once worked as an intern for the club and recently joined the ranks of basketball team owners with the acquisition of a club in Israel.
(*20*)“I figure inside five to seven years, Matan will be running the team,” a source close to the Adelsons said. “Of course, by the point he’s 30.”
(*20*)Cuban will keep a roughly 20% stake within the Mavs, sources said, however the surprising sale raised speculation the entrepreneur and reality TV star was facing a liquidity crunch.
(*20*)He was in talks to sell a minority stake within the Mavericks in recent weeks until he paused them to pursue the larger take care of the Adelsons, a source close to the sale process said.
(*20*)Cuban, 65, and Matan Adelson didn’t return calls for comment.
(*20*)Matan is considered one of two boys by Adelson and his second wife Miriam, the source said. She and the family have a net value estimated at greater than $32 billion following the 2021 death of her husband, who before passing at age 87 owned the famed Venetian hotel in Las Vegas and controlled gambling giant Las Vegas Sands Corp.
(*20*)In March, the Adelsons reportedly paid $20 million for the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team and put Matan in charge.
(*20*)“I’ve been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant specifically since I used to be young,” Matan said in a press release after the sale. “For me, Kobe embodied grit, an unmatched work ethic, and incredible determination. Growing up, I took quite a lot of inspiration from him, watching him strive to be one of the best version of himself, and thru my leadership, I hope to manifest this mentality on this club for now and for years to come.”
(*20*)Except for working as an intern within the Mavericks corporate sponsorship department in 2016, Matan was an investment banking summer analyst for Goldman Sachs before graduating from Stanford in 2021, according to his LinkedIn page.
(*20*)“Matan is a really polite kid,” the source said.
(*20*)For instance, Matan had a celebration along with his Stanford friends on the Venetian and everybody was surprisingly respectful and nice, the source close to the Adelsons said.
(*20*)The Adelsons had a family suite at Staples Center in Los Angeles while Matan was growing up which they used regularly to watch Lakers games, the source said.
(*20*)Additionally they have long been close to Cuban, the source added.
(*20*)Throughout the NBA’s Summer League held in Vegas, the Mavericks would stay at Adelson’s hotels, the primary source close to Adelsons said, fueling Matan’s interest in hoops.
(*20*)“Sheldon had a relationship with Cuban for 15 to 20 years,” the source close to the Adelsons said. “I think Mark viewed Sheldon as a mentor to him.”
(*20*)When Cuban’s show “Shark Tank” needed a location to film during COVID after their Culver City, Calif., studio was shut down, the producers went to Adelson’s Venetian to make the shows.
(*20*)Cuban, who raised eyebrows last week when he announced he was leaving the show, has invested heavily in crypto through the years – further fueling questions on his funds after the collapse of exchanges like FTX and Binance.
(*20*)He had investments in Ethereum-token ApeCoin, cross-chain wallet service Blockto, crypto Injective Protocol, NFT metaverse developer Althea Artificial Liquid Intelligence Token and blockchain ecosystem Ocean Protocol, according to a December 2022 article in CoinGape.
(*20*)He also owned a stake and heavily promoted now bankrupt Voyager Digital.
(*20*)“He’s failed in quite a lot of these crypto endeavors,” a source close to Cuban said.
(*20*)The arrangement that may allow Cuban to run the Mavericks is unusual but not unprecedented.
(*20*)Scott Malkin and Jonathan Ledecky took control of the Latest York Islanders in 2016 and while Malkin owned greater than 50% of the team, Ledecky is seen because the one who runs the hockey club.
(*20*)The discounted price the Adelson’s paid for the team may stem from the proven fact that Cuban doesn’t own the American Airlines Center, where the Mavs and their star Luca Doncic play. The lease expires in 2031.
(*20*)The Phoenix Suns sold for $4 billion last yr, while the small-market Milwaukee Bucks recently fetched $3.5 billion.