According to Mark Cuban, hedge-fund billionaires Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry acquired the Milwaukee Bucks for a bargain price of $550 million. Cuban, for instance, claims he’d never sell his Dallas Mavericks for anything south of $1 billion. Per ESPN:
“I think they got off cheap,” Cuban said. “I think that was a bargain. I think it’s worth a lot more. I think it’s worth a lot more than that. I think someone got a bargain. You can’t look backwards. You’ve got to look forward. You don’t value teams based off what happened in the past.”
In January, Forbes valued the Bucks at $405 million, the lowest among the NBA’s 30 teams.
But Cuban, who paid a then-record $285 million for the Mavericks in 2000, believes the NBA is in the midst of a business boom. Asked whether the league should consider adding an expansion team, Cuban said he would be on board, as long as the price was steep.
“I’m not opposed to it,” Cuban said. “This is just me talking, but we’d be crazy to sell it for under a billion dollars.”
After that comment, Cuban grinned and did a Dr. Evil impersonation, sticking the tip of his pinkie finger in the corner of his mouth. However, he’s completely serious about the subject.
“Let’s just say I’m bullish on the NBA,” Cuban said. “Call it the NBAIX, the NBA index. I think it’s underpriced right now. I’d invest money in that ETF.”
“I don’t have any intention of selling it,” Cuban said. “But if I were offered a trillion dollars, I’d take that.”
