Former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently revealed he felt bad for Mavericks GM Nico Harrison and his family in an exclusive courtside interview with CBS News’ Ro Parrish. Parrish’s relationship with Cuban has grown over the years from employee to friend. That said, Cuban’s invitation gave Parrish the green light to ask anything. Read on for the full interview.
Mark Cuban Feels Bad For Nico Harrison
Mark Cuban doesn’t allow just anyone to sit next to him at Dallas Mavericks home games, and Cuban’s rare invitation to Ro Parrish allowed him to ask him anything. After all, Cuban — a billionaire businessman worth $5.74 billion — is energetic and never quiet.
When asked for his thoughts on the fans’ reactions towards Nico Harrison after the trade, Cuban responded, “It is what it is. When you’re in an industry where if you win a championship, half a million people show up in the streets so when you do something they don’t like, just as many people are mad. I feel bad for Nico and his family in particular. I’ve had people yell “sell the team” to me in the past…one of the reasons I sold was because social media gets mean. And it got mean.”
Parrish asked Cuban to tell him about his current relationship with Harrison. Cuban responded, “We’ll be fine. It will take a little time but we’ll get there.” Parrish then asked Cuban about the “Luka Lambo,” and Cuban said, “It was so loud and I had to fill it up every two minutes. My kids started giving me a hard time calling Luka my son because I copied everything he did.”
Parrish didn’t stop there — and asked Cuban for his thoughts on the fans’ protests and crowds and how everyone reacted. Cuban responded, ” I took my son out and he went out. I stayed in the car. The casket and everything, I was cracking up.”
Mark Cuban Would’ve Done Things Differently
Take it or leave it, but Mark Cuban would’ve done things differently if he was still the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Ro Parrish acknowledged that Cuban, who bought the Mavericks for $285 million in 2000, came in and changed the game. Cuban said, “Yeah, I changed everything. I was like f*** it. I don’t care. I’m going to do what I want.”
Cuban then admitted there are things he wished he did differently. Cuban said, “Yeah I would have kept Steve Nash. I wish I would have been able to change officiating instead of wasting all those years and getting nowhere. I wish I would have drafted Yonas. Back then when we won the championship, I thought we were going to lock out the whole year. Maybe now is the time to start to rebuild. I would have done that differently. It’s like stuff happening now. I made my mistakes.”
Mark Cuban’s Changes
Being a team owner isn’t an easy job, and Mark Cuban had his fair share of challenges as the Dallas Mavericks majority owner from 2000 to 2023. Cuban only had two profitable seasons out of 23, which were the seasons the Mavericks tanked as the championship years required rings that cost $140,000 each. Cuban said he has “lots of wrinkles” and added, “I used to look 15 years younger than my age. Not so much anymore. It pisses me off.”
