Mark Cuban talks about the growth of the NBA and how the league is influenced by TV deals and social media

After the league agreed to a new $77 billion media rights deal a few months ago, the Dallas billionaire and minority owner of the Mavericks said he sees many positives in the current state of professional basketball. He attributed this to the NBA’s current competitive balance.

“I think competitively it’s the best it’s ever been,” Cuban said Tuesday on ESPN First recording. “I remember meetings and small market teams just coming and begging for revenue share and this and that. Now everyone is competitive. There will be teams pushing for Cooper Flagg, so that might not work out as well as the NBA wants. But there are still a lot of really good teams.”

Cuban, who sold his majority stake in the Mavericks at the end of 2023, also provided a realistic look at some of the issues the league still faces. He specifically addressed how Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of the regional Bally Sports networks, terminated its contract with the league.

Cuban said the Mavericks lost a major contract and there was no way to replace the revenue unless other sources were available.

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“How that impacts the actual cap next year will be interesting, even if the big TV deals take effect,” Cuban said. “I don’t think the cap will rise nearly as much as people expect.”

Cuban also expressed his thoughts on how the NBA will fare sharing a television audience with the NFL on Christmas Day. He told Shannon Sharpe and others that television wasn’t the be-all and end-all of ratings.

Both Sharpe and Cuban agreed that the NBA has an advantage over the NFL on short-form platforms like TikTok, Instagram and X/Twitter.

To conclude his appearance, Cuban addressed some of the concerns fans may have when the NBA regular season begins in about a week. His topics of conversation included streaming gaming and load management.

“I think there will be concerns among fans that the NBA needs to be really proactive in educating people about where they can get their favorite games,” Cuban said. “That being said, when it comes to load management, I don’t think people realize that the game is getting bigger, stronger and faster. It’s just brutal on the guys’ bodies.”

When Stephen A. Smith asked what Cuban would think if someone like Joel Embiid said he wouldn’t play in back-to-back regular-season games this year, the entrepreneur responded immediately.

“As long as the second game is directly against the Mavs, I love it,” Cuban said.

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