{"id":36179,"date":"2026-05-07T20:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36179\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T20:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:56:07","slug":"mark-cuban-buys-into-cebls-brampton-badgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36179\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Cuban buys into CEBL\u2019s Brampton Badgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Cuban, seen here at a game in Dallas between the Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls last month, has bought an ownership stake in the CEBL team, the Brampton Honey Badgers.Albert Pena\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A Shark has entered the Honey Badger den. <\/p>\n

Billionaire entrepreneur and former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban has joined the Brampton Honey Badgers ownership group, the team announced on Thursday. The club plays in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanadian basketball is probably the most underappreciated in the world,\u201d Cuban said in a news release. \u201cThe talent here is through the roof and getting better by the day.\u201d <\/p>\n

The announcement comes just before tip-off on the CEBL\u2019s season on Saturday. Cuban, who holds approximately a 27 per cent stake in the Mavericks, is familiar with the Honey Badgers\u2019 owner, Leonard Asper and the team\u2019s CEO, Al Whitley. <\/p>\n

Asper, who bought the Honey Badgers in March 2025, and Cuban have been business partners for many years. Asper is the owner of Anthem Sports and Entertainment \u2013 a company which Cuban owns a \u201cpiece of,\u201d according to Whitley. <\/p>\n

Tyler Mazereeuw named new president of Canadian Elite Basketball League<\/a><\/p>\n

Whitley, who joined the Honey Badgers in November, spent 22 years with the Mavericks from 2001 to 2023. The former NBA executive served in roles such as special adviser to Cuban and general manager of the Mavericks\u2019 NBA G League affiliate, the Texas Legends. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen [Leonard] bought the team in Brampton last year, he [sought] out Mark for advice for running a pro sports team, especially basketball,\u201d Whitley told The Globe and Mail. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked for Mark for 25 years \u2013 22 years with the Mavericks \u2013 so he gave [Leonard] my name, and we started conversations and those conversations turned into a pretty significant role in trying to revive this franchise.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled that Mark has decided to formally join me on this journey after having already helped along the way, including introducing me to our current CEO, Al Whitley,\u201d Asper said in the news release. \u201cNo one brings more basketball knowledge and winning culture than Mark, and all of us at the Honey Badgers are honoured to have him join this organization.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whitley said there\u2019s a built-in trust factor for Cuban given the trio\u2019s relationship.<\/p>\n

The Belleville, Ont., native said Cuban\u2019s exact role with the team is yet to be determined but added that the former co-host of Shark Tank provides instant visibility and credibility to not only the team, but the league as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a championship-level owner at the highest level in the game of basketball,\u201d Whitley said. \u201cHis insights, his direction, I\u2019m in constant contact with him, and so that alone is invaluable to us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whitley said the process of Cuban joining Brampton\u2019s ownership group came together relatively quickly. <\/p>\n

\u201cMark, knowing that I\u2019m up here and having done business with Len, the conversation started [with] if he\u2019s interested,\u201d Whitley said. \u201cMark at heart is a basketball junkie and he\u2019s aware of how good Canada basketball is.\u201d <\/p>\n

Things came together after Whitley joined the Honey Badgers organization in November and had \u201cbeen talked about for months.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMark just wants to be a part of the game of basketball,\u201d Whitley said. \u201cSo, I think it was an easy decision for him.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mark Cuban, seen here at a game in Dallas between the Mavericks and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[164,224,238,90,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-36179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brampton","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-brampton","12":"tag-breaking-news","13":"tag-breaking-news-video","14":"tag-british-columbia","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}