Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[mvossman]

His mindset had three stages, to me:

1) first decade plus a year or three: "I'll do anything or spend anything to make this franchise work."

2) post 2011: "I'm willing to pay tax for a really good contending team.  But not for a mediocre one."

3) my guess is soon after #2, like sooner than we realized: "I hate the way these CBA negotiations are heading every time, and my businesses aren't doing super well. Meanwhile, more and more real billionaires are buying teams, along with private equity groups who are pooling money from several sources. I can't hang with them. We're going to be one of the 'smart' teams who never pays tax."

He hadn't paid tax for YEARS before selling the team, if memory serves. I don't believe he was willing (or maybe even able) to do it ever again. He dances around this a little, but an adjacent point is made literally every single time he speaks publicly about his reasons for selling the team.

Cuban paid a fairly big tax bill in 23, but I think the potential tax bill is the biggest reason he let Brunson walk (and the incompetence of not extending him the year prior).