After the embarrassment of Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas, Mark Cuban gets into another mess with glowing statements about Elon Musk

Mark Cuban may no longer be the majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks but he maintains a stake in the team and is still an avid fan.

Earlier this week he was in attendance to see the Mavs beaten by the LA Lakers, with former star Luka Doncic returning to put up 45 points in Dallas. Cuban was seen reacting with frustration when the home crowd could be heard chanting ‘Fire Nico’, in reference to general manager Nico Harrison who is blamed for authorising the Doncic trade.

Cuban is an outspoken figure and has also been in the news this week for comments made to Elon Musk. The world’s richest man has taken an important role in the Trump administration but appears to have suffered a significant hit to his net worth as a result of the controversial tariffs.

Writing on social media, Cuban said: “Hey @elonmusk, you may be the greatest manufacturing builder of all time. Did you need protective tariffs in order to manufacture in the USA? Or were private capital, your investment, and local and federal government incentives the difference?”

Cuban continued: “What I respect most about you is that you go all in with your own money for your startups. Most people don’t have the balls to do it.”

The Shark Tank investor appeared to be calling for Musk to comment on President Trump’s trade tariffs. In recent days the cracks between Musk and the White House have began to show, particularly in comments posted on social media by Musk.

He described Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade advisor, as a “moron” and said he was “dumber than a sack of bricks” after comments regarding Musk’s business. Navarro had criticised Musk’s business dealings, saying that the Tesla owner is “not a car manufacturer, he’s a car assembler in many cases.”

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt issued comments on Tuesday, describing them as “obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs.”

Surprisingly, she did not attempt to defend the position of Navarro, who holds a formal position within the Trump White House. Instead, she told reporters: “Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue.”

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