INDIANAPOLIS – In his annual press conference with the media Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium during All-Star Weekend,
NBA commissioner Adam Silver paid homage to the 24 years Mark Cuban served as governor of the Dallas Mavericks.
“In terms of Mark, he’s had an incredible impact on this league,” Silver said. “I have been with the league through his entire tenure of his ownership — from his earliest days in the league. He pushed us hard. He came in as a technologist.
“I think it was almost precisely in 2000, right around — I was saying this on Friday with our Technology Summit — we began those Technology Summits in 2000 in San Francisco. I believe Mark was a panelist on our first one, and I think he was every year, and he’s someone that I’ve built a very close relationship over the years.”
Cuban purchased the Mavs from Ross Perot Jr. on Jan. 4, 2000, and sold his majority stake in the Mavs to the families of Dr. Miriam Adelson and Patrick and Sivan Dumont back in December.
“Despite some of the back-and-forth with Mark and (former NBA commissioner) David (Stern) publicly and a little bit with me, there’s always been very respectful relationships,” Silver said. “I think he pushed us to be more — early days — not just more focused on technology, but more of a marketing organization was something that he always cared about.
“Certainly on the basketball side, again — putting aside some of the public stuff — I know he cared a lot about the officiating program. Again, behind 
closed doors, we’ve worked together. He’ll speak for himself.”
Cuban always wanted the NBA to be a forward-thinking organization, and has retained a 27 percent ownership in the Mavs.
“I’m not saying we’ve satisfied him all along the way,” Silver said. “He’s been frustrated over aspects of the game. But he’s truly been a game-changing owner in this league and he’s had great success, obviously, with a championship, but also competitive teams most of the time during his tenure. And he’s been a very active participant in league matters, whether it’s been our media committee or Board of Governors meetings. He’s never hesitated to speak his mind.
“I’m pleased that he’s still — he’s not the controlling governor of the team anymore — but he’s still a very significant investor in the Dallas Mavericks as he’s made clear he’s not going anywhere. If you just tune into a game, he still seems to be standing in the same spot he was when he was the governor, and he continues to text, email, call us at the league office when he has something he wants to share with us.”
BRIEFLY: On All-Star Saturday on the new L.E.D. court at Lucas Oil Stadium, a trio of Indiana Pacers — Myles Turner, Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin — captured the Skills Challenge . . . Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard won the Three-Point Contest by nipping Atlanta’s Trae Young, 26-25, in the finals. The game-winner for Lillard came when he converted the two-point money ball on the last shot of the competition. Lillard also won the contest last year in Salt Lake City . . . In one of the most anticipated contests of the night, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors defeated Sabrina Ionescu of the WNBA’s New York Liberty in the Stephen vs. Sabrina three-point contest, 29-26. Ionescu challenged Curry to this one-on-one match, and went first in this contest, putting the pressure on Curry with her 26 points. However, Curry, trailing 26-25, hit his final two balls – each one a two-point money ball – to win the contest. It’s the first time the NBA has staged an event of this nature. Curry won a large championship belt with a GOAT on each side . . . Mac McClung of the G League’s Osceola Magic, was back again to defend his title. McClung, a product of Texas Tech, successfully defended his title, as he beat Boston’s Jaylen Brown in the final round. Brown scored 49.2 on his final dunk. But McClung jumped over 7-0 Shaquille O’Neal and dunked the ball and wound up collecting a perfect score of 50 from the judges.
X: @DwainPrice
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