Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a leader in a lot of fields. He's a tech and venture capital leader, constantly seeking out new areas where the market may be headed. He's a leader in the NBA world, constantly pushing for changes he thinks will make the game better and trying to come up with creative solutions to building a championship team.
He's so well regarded as a visionary that the reality TV star was reportedly approached by a group of GOP recruiters seeking to find a viable third-party candidate to oppose the Republican party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. The Washington Post reports that Cuban himself confirmed that representatives of the party approached him regarding a potential third-party bid, but that Cuban won't pursue it because "it's too late."
From The Washington Post:
The recruiters also delved into the world of reality television for someone who might out-Trump Trump: Mark Cuban, the brash billionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. Again and again, though, these anti-Trump Republicans have heard the same tepid response: Thanks, but no thanks.
"I don't see it happening," Cuban wrote in an email.
Cuban, who hosts Shark Tank, the ABC reality series in which entrepreneurs pitch investors about their business ideas, said his pursuers -- he declined to name them -- have told him his "bluster and volume, combined with substance and the ability to connect with voters on a more personal basis," could make him a winning candidate.
"He could come after me all he wanted, and he knows I would put him in his place," Cuban said of Trump. "All that said, again, I don't see it happening. There isn't enough time."
Source: Inside the GOP effort to draft an independent candidate to derail Trump - The Washington Post.
President Cuban would certainly be interesting, considering his approach to haranguing the NBA about various policies and his bombastic, acerbic approach to opinions lines up well with the current political climate.
It's telling that Cuban is declining the bid not because of his interest level in it, but because he doesn't feel there's time enough to run a campaign for him to win. President George W. Bush was a majority owner of the Texas Rangers prior to his presidency, so there's actually precedent here, and Cuban's familiarity with both sports fans and fans of "Shark Tank" would give him instant familiarity with voters.
