Billionaire entrepreneur, Shark Tank star and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban has been in the vanguard of NBA change since he first bought the team at the turn of the century.
Cuban has long been one of the most vocal and active owners in understanding and promoting the NBA as a players league — and that has only intensified recently as Cuban has wrestled admirably with how white privilege has affected his worldview.
Cuban’s revenue stream has been hit like that of everybody else in pro sports, but his priorities are with the players’ concerns, not his bottom line right now.
In a Q&A with college students who pressed him for answers about the role of NBA players in the recent protests and the Black Lives Matter movement generally, Cuban admitted he would approve of any player who wanted to skip the NBA restart in Orlando to focus his energy on the movement.
Cuban acknowledged many NBA players’ desire to help make manifest the movement’s promise and capitalize on its current momentum. Cuban expressed pride in the way the players are using their power to improve society for all.
“You know, there’s 450 NBA players and it’s their league. I mean, we’re truly a player-driven league,” Cuban said. “And so yes, you know I’m proud of our players for speaking up. I’m proud of them that this topic is this important to them and they’re really using their platform for societal good, so yes.”
Cuban really encapsulated the situation with the following: “It’s [the players’] experiences that are educating us all. You know it’s a process that’s not moving fast enough.”
Want to see Mark Cuban’s entrepreneurial wisdom in action? Shark Tank airs on Fridays on ABC. [Watch on your phone with the ABC GO Digital App found here. Download is FREE.]
