Rumors

Ramona Shelburne: This will be different than Cuban and the Mavericks sale. This is guaranteed, and has always been part of the set up since Walter brought the minority stake in 2021 and got first right of refusal. They’ve built a strong relationship over the last decade.

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Now, ESPN's Tim McMahon is pulling back the curtain on the severely diminished influence that Cuban now has in the Mavericks organization, per The Hoop Collective podcast. “Luka’s happiness was Mark Cuban’s top priority when Cuban was running that franchise,” said McMahon. “From the time they drafted Luka until the time Cuban sold the franchise, Luka’s happiness was Cuban’s top priority. Cuban had zero power, the heads up it was literally a matter of minutes this trade was happening. There’s a 0% chance that it would’ve ever happened under Cuban’s watch but I call him the World’s Richest Mascot for a reason because he doesn’t have any juice in the organization anymore, he gave that up hoping to cling on to it.”

Clutch Points

Since some of those qualifying games fall during the NBA season, Boylen coached a team mainly of G League players against teams from FIBA Americas: Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Columbia. Coaching in the 50-year-old Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is nothing like coaching the Bulls in the United Center on a Saturday night. So what. “The competitive part of it," Boylen explained, "was exactly what I needed at that point in my life."

USA Today Sports

When asked to describe the Mavericks’ basketball flowchart, Dumont noted that he and Cuban have in the past worked together on multiple fronts and have a history of collaboration. He also noted that Las Vegas’ Venetian Resort, at the time owned by Sands Corp., hosted a season of Shark Tank during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have a tremendous respect and appreciation for everything Mark has done to build the team, what he’s done for the organization and the success that they’ve achieved,” Dumont said. “I think what’s important is that when a lot of NBA teams sell, it’s a change-in-control transaction. And you lose the benefit of all the good things — and to be fair, all the learning and some of the mistakes that were made in prior ownership. “The great thing about this is there’s continuity in stewardship. Mark still owns a meaningful piece of the team. We will work together. … Listen, I love working with Mark. I think he’s great.”

Dallas Morning News

USA Basketball today announced the 12-man roster and updated coaching staff for the February 2024 USA Men’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team, which will host Cuba in Kissimmee, Florida, on Feb. 22 before traveling to Cuba for a contest on Feb. 25.

USA Basketball

One thing that Butler doesn’t love that’s popular in Miami is Cuban coffee. Butler, a coffee enthusiast and the founder of Big Face Coffee, calls it “too strong.” “It’s too strong for me, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Then it’s like if it’s too strong, they just put a bunch of sugar in it. Whether it’s a colada, cafecito, it’s strong. But you know the one thing that I do like about it, though, is you’re supposed to share it. That’s what coffee is supposed to be for anyways. So I actually do like that part of Cuban coffee culture.”

Miami Herald

Adrian Wojnarowski: ESPN Sources: Jerome Allen will become USA Basketball’s head coach for the USA AmeriCup qualifying team and its February games vs. Cuba. He replaces Dave Joerger, who returned to the NBA as a Bucks assistant. Allen will coach a USA team working to qualify for 2025 FIBA AmeriCup.

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USA Basketball: Dave Joerger will serve as head coach of the February 2024 USA AmeriCup Qualifying Team for a home & away matchup with Cuba. Jerome Allen & Melvin Hunt will serve as assistant coaches.

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League sources say now that Cuban told NBA commissioner Adam Silver last season that he was pursuing the untraditional deal he ultimately struck with the Las Vegas Sands Corp. which calls for Cuban to retain operational control of the Mavericks' basketball endeavors despite Sands Corp. holding a significantly larger ownership stage than he will.

marcstein.substack.com

Duane Rankin: "We're not done yet." Buddy Hield's four games in Olympic pre-qualifying tournament. Group play: vs. Cuba 24 points, vs. Argentina 23 points. Semifinals: vs. Uruguay 17 points. Finals: vs. Argentina 15 points. Bahamas 4-0, wins tournament. #Pacers pic.twitter.com/LyAFycLS5b

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Gerald Bourguet: The Bahamas beat Cuba 109-68. Deandre Ayton finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds on 10-14 FG and was a +37 in 25 minutes. Eric Gordon chipped in 17 points and 4 assists on 6-10 FG (4-7 3P) pic.twitter.com/7Ko1oLjUcU

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I’m gonna go somewhere in the Little Havana spots where they don’t speak English, near the arena, and get a Cuban sandwich. What about Jimmy Butler’s coffee enterprise? Oh my god. This bleeping guy. His coffee is really good. Don’t put that in. Don’t say that, ever. I will not admit that.

inquirer.com

Kevin Love heard it all and strongly disagrees. “We were talking because yesterday there was so much, I think it was Cuban or somebody had said we have to take the charge out of the game,” Love said ahead of Game 2 of the Heat’s first-round playoff series against the Bucks on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum. “But I say it’s like the shift in baseball. I hate that they said no more shift because you’re giving so much power to the offensive player. We already do that, we already did that with the take foul.”

Miami Herald

Brad Townsend: In an earlier tweet, I said that Mark Cuban showed the DMN text messages that support his assertions of how the Brunson departure went down. Those texts were between Cuban and Nico Harrison, characterizing their communications with Brunson's side -- not texts from Brunson's reps.

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