DHJ Quick Take: Oil, Golf, Macau and Africa, Explained: What Rich Paul’s Dallas Mavericks Pitch Actually Means
Rich Paul’s business-only case for the Dallas Mavericks in LeBron James’ free agency touched on the team’s Las Vegas Sands ownership, its Dallas-Fort Worth golf ties and Masai Ujiri’s reach across Africa. None of it addressed the roster.
- What does “Macau and the Sands Group” refer to? The Mavericks are majority-owned by Miriam Adelson’s family, whose Las Vegas Sands Corp. runs casino resorts in Macau and Singapore.
- Why did Rich Paul mention golf? LeBron James has leaned further into golf recently, and Dallas-Fort Worth is home to major champions Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau.
- What is Masai Ujiri’s Africa connection? Ujiri was raised in Nigeria, co-founded the Giants of Africa nonprofit in 2003, and helped launch the Basketball Africa League in 2021.
- What’s next? LeBron James is expected to keep weighing offers before deciding on his next team, with Dallas’ basketball case still unstated.
DALLAS — When Rich Paul reached the Dallas Mavericks on his free agency whiteboard for LeBron James, he skipped the roster entirely and reduced the pitch to four words: oil, golf, Macau and Africa. Paul summed it up on the “Game Over” podcast with Max Kellerman by telling him, “A lot comes with Dallas and Masai.”
Each of those four references points to something specific about the Mavericks’ ownership, home city and front office rather than anything happening on the court.
Oil and Golf: The Dallas Lifestyle Pitch
Golf is the more literal of the two. James has leaned further into the sport over the past year, and few metro areas offer the golf pedigree Dallas-Fort Worth does. Major champions Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Bryson DeChambeau all live in the area, giving James built-in company if golf becomes part of his offseason routine as a Maverick.
Oil is more of a shorthand for Texas wealth and business culture than a specific tie to the organization itself. James has increasingly focused on his post-playing investment portfolio, and Dallas’ status as a hub for energy money and private capital fits the kind of business network Paul has indicated matters to James as much as basketball does.
Macau and the Sands Group: Inside Dallas’ Casino-Backed Ownership
The Mavericks have been controlled by Miriam Adelson and her family since 2023, when they purchased a majority stake from Mark Cuban in a deal valued at roughly $3.5 billion. Adelson is the majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, serves in a dual role as the Mavericks’ governor and as Las Vegas Sands’ president and chief operating officer.
That dual role is what turns “Macau and the Sands Group” into more than an ownership footnote. Sands China Ltd., the Las Vegas Sands subsidiary that runs the company’s Macau resorts, owns and operates The Venetian Arena, and the Mavericks are scheduled to play the Houston Rockets there on Oct. 9 and Oct. 11 as part of the NBA China Games 2026.
Dumont called it “a tremendous honor for Sands to host the games” when the matchup was announced. The trip reaches fans across more than 200 countries and territories and follows a run of Global Games at the same venue last October, when the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets marked the NBA’s return to Macau after an 18-year absence.
Masai Ujiri and “the Whole Continent of Africa”
Ujiri’s half of the pitch is the most tangible. Hired this offseason as Mavericks president, Ujiri was born in London and raised in his father’s native Nigeria, and he became the first African-born team president in major North American professional sports during his 13 seasons running the Toronto Raptors, a tenure that included the franchise’s only NBA championship in 2019.
Off the court, Ujiri co-founded the nonprofit Giants of Africa in 2003, an organization that has run basketball camps and built courts across close to 20 African countries. He also helped establish the Basketball Africa League in 2021 and has served on the board of NBA Africa. For a player whose business interests already extend well beyond basketball, Ujiri represents a partner with reach across an entire continent.
The Basketball Case Is Still Missing
None of that addresses whether Dallas can put a contending roster around James. Paul’s board listed full projected starting lineups for the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Dallas got none of that treatment, an omission that leaves Kyrie Irving‘s return from a torn ACL, Cooper Flagg‘s second season and the rest of the Mavericks’ roster out of the conversation entirely, at least for now.
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