Could a massive change be coming to the Dallas Mavericks' arena?

Will Miller

Los Angeles Lakers v Dallas Mavericks / Tim Heitman/GettyImages

After Mark Cuban recently sold a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, many Mavericks fans were shocked at the initial news until it was reported that Cuban would still maintain basketball operations in Dallas.

The valuation of the Dallas Mavericks for the team's looming sale to Las Vegas Sands Corp. is expected to land in the $4 billion range when formally voted on later this month, sources tell @TheSteinLine

More in my latest around-the-league Monday Musings: https://t.co/AjjFu6Fcge
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 11, 2023

Adelson, 78-years-old, is the widow of former Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands is a casino and luxury resort management company, and a recent LLC associated with them just bought eight properties totaling about 259 acres across State Highway 114 and Loop 12 near the Dallas Cowboys' old stadium.

Could a massive change be coming to the Dallas Mavericks' arena?

According to a Sands spokesperson, none of the properties that were acquired in Irving are correlated to Adelson's purchase of the Mavericks whatsoever. However, it's hard to see Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban not being excited at the chance to integrate a casino-style resort with a new arena in the future, and the land was only recently purchased so nothing is definitive yet.

Cuban has long been a proponent of legalizing gambling in Texas, and with Miriam Adelson's deep ties with individuals working within the Texas legislature, it's not completely out of the question that a new arena intertwined with gambling could be coming for the Dallas Mavericks at some point soon.

Even if Cuban and Adelson aren't able to make something work at the theoretical Irving location that sits just about 8.5 miles from downtown Dallas, they will assuredly try to find a new arena in some place for the Mavericks, as Cuban has expressed a longstanding desire to upgrade to a new arena with the Mavericks current lease with the American Airlines Center only being under contract until 2031.

For right now, fans can relax, as the Mavericks won't move arenas for another seven years at the earliest, but Cuban's dream scenario of an arena coupled with a casino isn't as far out from coming to fruition for the Dallas Mavericks as some may think.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks, stay plugged in with us as we'll have you covered.

Will Miller

Will Miller is a senior contributor and is in his second year with The Smoking Cuban. Will has been following the Dallas Mavericks for over a decade and is currently working on getting a Bachelors in Science in Sports Journalism from the University of North Texas, as he is also covering sports for the North Texas TV station. While Will is opening up his coverage to cover other sports for UNT, basketball and the Dallas Mavericks are his true passion and he hopes to continue writing and producing Mavericks related content as his career continues. Will has very solid in-game analysis and knowledge about the intricacies of the game, and has a very broad understanding about the NBA as a whole. Going forward Will is looking to be more expansive in his coverage of the Mavericks beyond writing as well. Outside of writing about the Mavericks, Will enjoys hanging with friends, going to the gym, and watching other sports and live events.