Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban may have whiffed on the inside track to becoming president of the United States.
According to Cuban, ex-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris tried to vet the “Shark Tank” investor to be her running mate for the 2024 presidential election, but Cuban declined.
Apparently, Cuban assumed the pool of candidates for vice president was too vast, so going through the process would have been a waste of time. Also, Cuban felt he might have clashed with the potential commander-in-chief, he revealed.
“My response was ‘I’m not very good as the No. 2 person,’” Cuban said during a sit-down with The Bulwark’s Tim Miller on Thursday. “And so, the last thing we need is me telling Kamala, you know, the president that, ‘No, that’s a dumb idea,’ right? And I’m not real good at the shaking hands and kissing babies.”
Although adding Cuban to the ticket might not have changed the outcome, he clearly would have energized the ticket — both good and bad — which Harris’ running mate Tim Waltz didn’t quite do.
“I mean, obviously it would have been different. My personality is completely different than Tim’s. My experiences, my backgrounds are completely different. I think I’ve cut through the s–t more directly. I’m not a politician. And so it would have been different, but it would have been awful,” Cuban said, adding, “She would have fired me within six days.”
Despite turning down the offer, Cuban challenged President Donald Trump at every turn, and to a lesser extent, campaigned for Harris, who he possibly could have joined in the White House.
Some believe Cuban is positioning himself to run as an independent candidate in 2028 once Trump — who defeated Harris in November — exhausts his second term.
Cuban remains a minority owner of the Mavericks after he sold his majority stake to the Adelson and Dumont families in 2023.
Todderick Hunt covers Sports and Culture and Recruiting. Have a story idea or a tip? He can be reached at thunt@njadvancemedia.com.