Mark Cuban and Steve Ballmer, tech billionaires and NBA franchise owners, have cleared the air.
That’s according to a post Cuban published on Cyberdust, the messaging app he helped create. The Dallas Morning News has the full statement, which describes how Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, met with Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, on Tuesday at an NBA meeting.
Cuban said that the conversation started off “more than a little frigid,” which is totally expected given what went down last week when Clippers star center DeAndre Jordan backed out of a verbal agreement he had to sign with the Mavericks. Jordan changed his mind at the last second and re-signed with Los Angeles after Ballmer and a group of Clippers players and executives traveled to his house in Houston. ESPN has a good run-down of fiasco here.
I want to publicly apologize to one of the best owners in the world @MCuban, the @DallasMavs and their fans.
— DeAndre Jordan (@DeAndre) July 11, 2015
I am humbled by @DallasMavs & @MCuban kindness and understanding. I am sorry to have a change of heart.
— DeAndre Jordan (@DeAndre) July 11, 2015
The decision unsurprisingly angered Cuban and the Mavericks. Cuban later wrote on Cyberdust that “When is an apology not an apology? When you didn’t write it yourself. Next.”
In his Cyberdust post today, Cuban wrote that he and Ballmer “both cleared the air on a few things.”
“I told him exactly what I told other owners, I didn’t have a problem with his hail Mary approach to keeping a player,” Cuban wrote. “I understood why they did it. And even how they did it. They got their player back. End of story.”
Cuban added that he thinks the NBA will pit his Mavericks against the Clippers in the regular season opener this fall given what happened last week. I’m definitely excited to see the two of the most outrageous and passionate NBA owners — both known for their bombastic displays of emotion — face off on the hard court from their courtside seats. You can check out our Ballmer vs. Cuban preview from last season here.
