"They hated me" - Shark Tank's Mark Cuban reveals his experience after buying Dallas Mavericks

Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban entered the NBA in January 2000 after buying the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million. Describing what happened next, he said he encountered a league deep in traditions. At the time, the NBA was under the leadership of Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver.

Cuban says that they managed the entire association as "nothing but attorneys." He says that their way of making decisions about anything new came from a point of a structured and cautious method.

This led Mark to bring about a fresh perspective that viewed professional sports not just as a game but also as creating lifelong experiences. However, he was met with resistance by the NBA's Board of Governors.

Revealing about the same, he said,

"So the hardest part, when I took over the Dallas Mavericks were the other owners, they hated me."

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Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban describes resistance from the NBA Board

One of the biggest challenges that Shark Tank's Mark Cuban describes while being in the business of the NBA is getting comfortable amidst the NBA's Board of Governors. This group consisted of 30 franchise owners who were responsible for managing the business affairs of the league.

Mark says that he had faced skepticism from fellow owners who wanted him to define his ideas within their confirmed approach. This meant he would have to stay in the background, sign checks, and not be outspoken at all.

Recalling the same, he said that during his first Board of Governors meeting, he was asked about his leadership style and intentions. Some even compared him to figures like Jerry Jones and George Steinbrenner, thinking that Mark might be disruptive. He said,

"All the other 28 teams sat in a room and started grilling me with questions, grilling me, are you gonna be like Jerry Jones? What are your goals? Are you gonna be George Steinbrenner? Whoever, they wanted me to be like them. They wanted me to sit up in suits and sign the checks."

Another facet that the Shark Tank investor described was how he was always clashing with the policies of the league. He claimed to have an entrepreneurial mindset that led him to create a separate website for the Dallas Mavericks instead of depending on just NBA.com. He revealed,

"Everybody else was in a suit and tie. I'm walking in in jeans and a T-shirt, and they're all staring at me, and I didn't shut up for 24 years. I got fined a lot, but I didn't shut up. David Stern was a visionary for sure, and he was smarter than me in a lot of ways. You know, there would be rules like setting up our own website."

Adding, he continued,

"No, you can't set up your own team website, you gotta use nba.com. I set up our own website because the thing with David is he had to deal with the other owners cursing him out saying, "Why are you letting Cuban get away with this stuff?" "

Initially, this move was opposed by the board members who wished to have more consistency within the organization. However, Mark Cuban appreciated Stern for supporting his initiatives while also balancing the concerns of other franchise owners.

Appreciating Stern, Shark Tank's Mark said,

"And so he had to take on that burden for me and he did. He was a first-class guy and despite our differences in what was fineable and what should not be fineable, he always had my best interest and the best interest of the NBA at heart."

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Shark Tank season 16 releases new episodes weekly on ABC at 8 PM Eastern Time on Fridays. Later, they can be streamed online through Hulu.