Patrick Dumont, Mavericks majority shareholder, gives his first interview as governor

It’s been 76 days since news broke of the Dallas Mavericks’ sale and 47 days since the NBA ratified it, but the franchise’s new governor, Patrick Dumont, publicly has remained silent, unseen. A mystery man. Until now. Dumont last week spoke exclusively to The Dallas Morning News about all things Mavericks — including arena scenarios — at last bringing perspective, candor and surprisingly fresh emotion to what he calls the honor of succeeding Mark Cuban as governor. “The fact that we’re even talking about this, it feels like I need to pinch myself,” he said.

The mere sound of Dumont’s voice felt newsworthy after weeks of suspense and intrigue. In contrast to Cuban’s big persona and pop culture visibility, little is known about Dumont, 49, other than he is chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and son-in-law of Miriam Adelson, Sands’ largest shareholder. It is physician and philanthropist Adelson, 78, who has a higher profile than Dumont as a Republican Party megadonor and America’s fifth-wealthiest woman. It was her sale of $2 billion of Sands stock that largely funded the cash purchase of a majority stake in the Mavericks, at a $3.9 billion valuation. Who exactly is Patrick Dumont and what are his plans for the 44-year-old franchise? How much will we see of Miriam Adelson? Will Cuban, as he has publicly asserted, continue to oversee basketball operations despite owning 27% of the team, compared with Adelson-Dumont’s 69%? Who ultimately will make basketball decisions? And business decisions? Will the Mavericks honor their American Airlines Center lease, which doesn’t expire until 2031? Or might they build Cuban’s long-dreamed arena-resort-casino development? If the latter occurs, will it be built in Dallas or a neighboring suburb, perhaps on the 108-acre Irving site purchased last July by an entity connected to Sands Corp.? The biggest question of all: Why? Why did the Adelson-Dumont families, who amassed their Forbes-estimated $36 billion worth in the resort and casino industry, buy an NBA franchise in a state that doesn’t have legalized gambling and might not for years, if ever? “As a family, we’ve been wanting to be part of the Texas business community,” Dumont said. “We think it’s a great place to be. Dallas is a growing city. There’s a lot of positive factors in Dallas from the perspective of owning an NBA franchise. “It’s probably a top-five market; could easily go into the top four in the next couple of years. … And it was incredibly compelling to us to invest with Mark and go ahead and do this. For us, the public company is something that we really focus on, but this was a family decision.”