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The Jewish Sport Report: Mark Cuban and Miriam Adelson make a Dallas Mavericks swap
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(JTA) — Hi there! It’s hard to believe it’s already December. The MLB Winter Meetings begin on Monday, ushering in the most exciting and hectic few days of baseball’s offseason.
Keep an eye on newly-minted general managers David Stearns (New York Mets) and Craig Breslow (Boston Red Sox), as well veteran execs Mark Shapiro (Toronto Blue Jays) and Andrew Friedman (Los Angeles Dodgers) — all of whom are expected to be active in free agent negotiations and trade talks.
The top three reporters covering the rumors are all Jewish, too: Jeff Passan, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman.
The Dallas Mavericks make a trade — one Jewish billionaire owner for another
Mark Cuban, left, is selling a significant stake in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, right. (Getty Images)
Jewish billionaire and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban is likely the best-known owner in the NBA. He’s not afraid to speak out about politics or controversy in the league, and he has an active role in running his Dallas Mavericks.
So when the news broke this week that Cuban would be selling his majority stake in the franchise, basketball fans were taken a bit off-guard. And his partner in the acquisition, fellow Jewish billionaire and casino magnate Miriam Adelson, was also unexpected. Adelson, the widow of influential Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson, purchased Cuban’s ownership stake for a reported $3.5 billion.
The deal also represents something of a partnership for Cuban and Adelson, whose daughter is on the Israeli version of “Shark Tank.” Cuban will retain control over the team’s basketball operations — an unusual arrangement in pro sports — while Adelson is expected to bring her casino know-how to Dallas, where some lawmakers are seeking to legalize recreational gambling.
Adelson is also taking over the current team of Kyrie Irving, the All-Star at the center of an antisemitism scandal last year.
Read more about the unexpected Mavericks sale here.
Halftime report
HOSTAGE HERO. Prominent Argentine-Jewish sportscaster Hernan Feler mentioned the Israeli hostages on air during soccer games for weeks. His aunt, Ofelia Roitman, was among those released by Hamas on Tuesday.
A TRUE GLOBETROTTER. Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger died this week at 100, and my colleague Ben Harris’ excellent obituary features a fantastic tidbit about the controversial politician: Kissinger was the first person to be named an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in 1976.
JEWS ON FIRST. If you live in the Boston area, check out this event Sunday at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland: Judaism through Baseball: An Afternoon with Ryan Lavarnway and Jonathan Mayo. Mayo is a longtime MLB.com reporter and a friend of the Sport Report, and I recently spoke with Lavarnway, the former Team Israel captain and retired MLB catcher, about his Israel advocacy.
RETURN TO SENDER. The Telegraph reports that the United Kingdom rejected a proposal that former Chelsea F.C. owner and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich use the money he made from selling the Premier League club — over two billion pounds — to support Israel rather than Ukraine, as he had proposed last year.
GABE’S NEW GIG. Former San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler is joining the Miami Marlins front office as an assistant general manager. Kapler had been a candidate for Boston’s chief baseball officer opening this winter and had expressed an interest in returning to front-office work after years as a manager.
WHAT CAN’T HE DO? It turns out New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes is a multi-sport threat. The 22-year-old, who has 29 points in 16 games this season, joined “The Eli Manning Show” this week and easily made a 50-yard “puck goal,” shooting a hockey puck through the uprights at MetLife Stadium. For his next trick, we’d like to see Hughes hit a puck for a homer at Citi Field.
Jews in sports to watch this weekend
IN BASKETBALL…
Deni Avdija and the Washington Wizards face the Orlando Magic tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Avdija dropped a season-high 22 points on Wednesday (his second 22-point performance), but the Wizards remain one of the league’s worst teams at 3-15. Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings host the Denver Nuggets Saturday at 10 p.m. ET and the New Orleans Pelicans Monday at 10 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament. In the G League, Ryan Turell and the Motor City Cruise host the Wisconsin Herd tonight at 7 p.m. ET and Amari Bailey and the Greensboro Swarm play the Delaware Blue Coats tomorrow at 6 p.m. ET.
IN HOCKEY…
Jack and Luke Hughes’ New Jersey Devils host Luke Kunin and the San Jose Sharks tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The brothers worked together to secure an overtime victory last night. Their rival, bagel influencer Adam Fox — who returned from injury on Wednesday — and his New York Rangers match up against the Nashville Predators Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Sharks Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. Cole Guttman and the Chicago Blackhawks play the Winnipeg Jets Saturday at 3 p.m. ET and the Minnesota Wild Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Guttman returned to the Blackhawks last Friday after a stint in the AHL.
IN FOOTBALL…
Jake Curhan and the Seattle Seahawks kicked off Week 13 last night with a thrilling 41-35 loss against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. On Sunday, catch Michael Dunn and the Cleveland Browns against the Los Angeles Rams at 4:25 p.m. ET, before A.J. Dillon and the Green Bay Packers host the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday Night Football.
IN SOCCER…
Matt Turner and Nottingham Forest take on Everton Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET.
IN GOLF…
Max Homa is in the lineup at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge golf tournament in The Bahamas this weekend.
A joyful homecoming
Teenager Ofir Engel, one of the dozens of Israeli hostages released by Hamas this week, is a huge fan of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team. The squad welcomed Engel home on Wednesday with a message on X, writing, “Happy. Proud. Glad to announce Ofir Engel’s signing for life… so good that you came back home.” Watch the crowd cheer him on in this moving clip from a game he attended after his release.
הפועל ירושלים
שמחה
גאה
מאושרת
להכריז על החתמתו של אופיר אנגל לכל החיים.
מאושרים עבור סבא ג’וחא, יואב, שרון וכל משפחת אנגל האהובה.
כמה טוב שבאת הביתה.
!Ofir is back HOME pic.twitter.com/jrQoAQmY1a
— Hapoel Jerusalem BC (@JerusalemBasket) November 29, 2023
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.