NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he is bullish on Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont, calling him a fan-first operator whose vision for Dallas could eventually include a brand-new arena. Silver's comments come after Dumont led the Mavericks on a weeklong trip to Macao in October for two NBA China Games against Houston, a visit that doubled as a showcase for Dumont's background running large-scale entertainment venues overseas.
Silver, who spoke by phone recently with The Dallas Morning News, said Dumont's presence in Macao was impressive and that seeing his operation there in person brought the governor's reputation to life. The commissioner called Dumont a first-class operator and a fan-first, customer-first manager, according to the paper, and said he looks forward to seeing Dumont's vision for Dallas realized — ultimately with a new arena.
Dumont serves as both Mavericks governor and chairman of Sands China Ltd., which hosted the week's NBA activities in Macao, including games at the Venetian Arena. Sands' Macao and Singapore operations have long centered on five resort-casinos in the territory and one in Singapore, and the company has since sold its Las Vegas properties, per the same Dallas News report. Dumont has said the family intends to exercise its option to eventually control all but 7% of Mark Cuban's remaining stake in the Mavericks.
From Macao Diplomacy to NBA Trust
Dumont's connections in Macao trace back further than his Mavericks ownership. According to The Athletic, Dumont first met with NBA officials in 2021 to pitch bringing preseason games back to China, well before his family's purchase of a controlling stake in the Mavericks became official. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum credited Dumont directly for the diplomatic groundwork, saying, “I would say he probably is singlehandedly the most important person in making these games happen.”
The NBA resumed play in China in October 2025 after a six-year absence, with the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns becoming the first teams back on the ground there, The Athletic reports. The Mavericks and Rockets followed with two games in Macao during the team's October 2026 trip, a visit that saw Kyrie Irving return from a 19-month injury absence and score 17 points in 22 minutes in front of Chinese fans. Dallas News notes the NBA China Games are now part of a multi-year contract that grew out of a framework Dumont and the league developed in 2022.
Reports differ on the price tag of Sands' overhaul of the Venetian Arena itself. The Athletic reports the company spent roughly $200 million and about a year on the renovation, while Dallas News puts the figure at $150 million over a 10-month span, completed in 2024. Either way, the venue became the backdrop for the league's return to the region and, by extension, a proving ground some NBA officials now point to when discussing Dumont's arena ambitions back home.
What a Dallas Arena Could Look Like
The Mavericks are eyeing a new arena, headquarters, training facility and entertainment district on the former Valley View Mall site in Dallas, though reports disagree on its exact size — Dallas News describes it as roughly 104 acres in one account and 110 acres in another. The team is hoping to move into a new facility ahead of the 2031-32 season, according to The Athletic, which also reports the plans will not include a casino or a resort nearby.
That detail matters given Dumont's day job running Sands' casino resorts in Macao, and it comes after the NBA's Board of Governors previously would not approve a potential move of the Mavericks to Las Vegas. Patrick Dumont has expertise in large-scale arenas and entertainment districts, the Dallas paper notes, and incoming Mavericks CEO Ethan Casson has said modern sports-team investment now extends well beyond the court — into districts, entertainment, scale and real estate. Casson, who takes over as CEO on January 1, 2027, after Rick Welts departs the role, previously helped facilitate the 2025 sale of the Timberwolves from Glen Taylor to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez.
A Franchise That's Changed Hands Before
The Dumont and Miriam Adelson families purchased controlling interest in the Mavericks from Mark Cuban in December 2023, a deal that followed decades of ownership turnover for the franchise. Ross Perot Jr. bought a majority stake at a $125 million valuation in 1996, and Cuban himself purchased the team at a $285 million valuation in 2000 — a franchise the NBA's David Stern had once called the model expansion team back in the 1980s, when Dallas paid a $12 million expansion fee to join the league.
Cuban still owns 27% of the Mavericks, and valuations of the franchise have varied widely depending on the source: Forbes has pegged the team's worth at $5.8 billion, while Cuban himself has cited a $4.3 billion figure in a podcast interview, and previous reports placed the sale price between $3.5 billion and $3.9 billion. The Adelson-Dumont families reportedly had a combined net worth of $33.5 billion at the time of the 2023 purchase, compared with Cuban's $6.8 billion net worth, which had ranked him 255th on Forbes' list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
The Mavericks' ownership shuffle fits into a broader wave of league-wide turnover. NBA franchises have seen 10 of 30 significant ownership-stake transactions since 2023, according to Dallas News, following a 2021 rule change that allowed up to 30% private-equity ownership in franchises. The trend has also shown up at the top of the market, with Mark Walter purchasing the Lakers for $10 billion in 2025 before the franchise was resold at a $12.5 billion valuation in August 2026.
For now, the Mavericks say their focus remains on the court and in the community. The Dumont family has said it is committed to building a championship team, supporting fans and growing the organization's local-community impact through investments in Dallas — with the team having started this regular season better than expected, according to the Dallas News report.
