Mark Cuban Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex

foreigner just keep them there those are nice shoes right those shoes are you you know those shoes are you so I'll do you a favor I'll let you keep those shoes and I'll give you 20 dollars just to say you know what now I know how good I look good , we have a deal, okay, great, sounds like a deal now you can say thanks, thanks you're welcome. What's happening? I'm Joe from the

complex

. We're in Dallas on Sneaker Politics with Mavs owner and one of Shark Tank's stars Mark Cuban, what's up? Joe is going to buy

sneaker

s today to see how it feels when he doesn't and then, hopefully, he will buy some

sneaker

s.

I'm ready, let's go. Mark, I want to start in the early 2000s because I feel like media day was kind of your time to shine a little bit. Yes, you had a group of players with exclusive deals, but speaking of these days, these Air Force ones you had. Luxury rewoven from Italy, yes I saw they are at Sotheby's, not the personal pair now, but I like that model for about 1500, yes we are showing up on press days. I knew it well, I knew it early, yes, I had to choose. Yes, I had a small complete Air Force collection that I still have, okay, but I didn't save the boxes, that was my only mistake.

I got it, but yeah, I tried to always look good because when you're dealing with Nash, Dirk and Michael Finley, especially yeah, if I didn't, they'd be killing me and the thing is, for some kids who maybe aren't aware of Michael Finley, Michael Finley had a crazy deal with Jordan, like a lot of the deals with Jordan, especially the early ones, remember? like the shoes that come for him, yeah, let's see, here's the backstory in Finnish, okay, so he's from Chicago and he won a contest to play Michael Jordan one on one, and he had the job of Jerry curl and everything was hysterical. but that kind of got him hooked on Michael and when he got to the Mavs, Finn was all about fashion, literally, he had a different outfit for every game and when it came to sneakers, I mean, he was top notch and that made me love it because it was the era when Quentin Richardson had a shoe deal with Mike Bibby and Michael Finley.

I just remember when I was a kid it looked like some Jordans with special makeup, white and blue, they must have come in, yeah, and then there was a I think it was like 2003. 2004 you were wearing a pair of Jordan trunners was the model and they were black and blue Was it connecting you or not? We actually went to the Nike store and then they hooked me up there, they were um, we went to Portland and they were like, Here's a

shopping

cart, wow, and I was like everywhere, man, those shoes last me a long time, so you were in the employee store, yes, exactly, and they just said have it good, so I bought everything and when.

Did you like to notice that athletes get lucrative deals on sneakers? You know we'll get to the Luca deal later but when did you notice that it was a big deal in MJ's office because you know I became friends with MJ and then I went to his basketball camp he was fine so he was always talking about everything and then when he bought the Hornets, you know, Finn was always about it and he even liked to talk to Dirk like Dirk had a contract with Nike, but it wasn't about getting an exclusive shoe, but guys, you know the Mavs, where he would go to the NBA All-Star Game and that's how it was, they weren't designing anything, it was all about sneakers.

Check another shoe you used to wear that is pretty relevant now that it was an N1. laceless, oh yeah, the later game, but there was a document that there was a dock recently and they were talking about how for two years that shoe and another shoe called Tai Chi were killing if you paid attention to similar brands on the Sube and what they were doing in space, yes, just because comfort comes first, but like I said, players always look at what you wear like they don't look at your face, they don't look at your clothes. He looks directly at your sneakers, so yes, I was paying attention, there is a great image.

I think you're going to say hello to Hakeem and you're going to see the N1 logo and I thought these must have been his go-to for a while. because you just put them on and go everywhere and I can wear them anytime and I can work out in them so yeah I'll probably have them somewhere awesome and you know we talked a little bit about MJ but you said you almost had it when That before the Wizards was true, no, it's not a lie, so I went to David in the fall, he called me after buying the Mavs, who was Michael's agent, and he said, well, we're getting ready.

I'm like Mike. I heard Michael might be coming. Yeah, because we're getting ready to sign this deal with the Wizards and I'm meeting MJ for the first time and he has all the paperwork. He's fine, he decides what happened. Yeah. I'm like this is your last chance to get it. Okay, I'll make the same deal. I mean, he was playing Shark Tank before Shark Tank was born, right, yeah, but you know he went through what he vowed to shut down, albeit up close talking about Shark Tank. Do you remember any good and friendly shoe presentation? of not-so-great shoe releases, yeah, I mean, look, everyone always has the next right shoe, they always think their look is the best, you know, come the slip-ons.

I don't remember the name of the company, but someone came. It's been like five years where it was for maintenance, just to keep your shoes in good shape and it was one of the times where I wanted the deal and someone else got it, it never happened, yeah, you know, the contestants always say: are you completely out? waiting for you, yeah, but for some reason they wanted to go somewhere else, but um, yeah, that was the only deal because it's a tough business, yeah, right, I really mean, I've been an investor in stadium assets. I am a Moolah investor.

It's great for women so I try to pay attention to the business aspect, yes this is one of the most difficult businesses of all time and we talk a little bit about investments. It's like if a major sneaker brand ever asked you to invest in no, no, I mean, no. I once had a conversation with Michael Jordan about making my own shoes, but he almost had too much work, right? Okay, you asked MJ for advice, yes, no, but what did he say? He said you could do it well because you bring I'll tell Nike and you already know Jordan and we'll find something, but I thought it's too much work, okay, but no big brand has asked me to invest.

The best one I have are the Mula shoes because based on actual use, women playing, you know, girls playing basketball in high school, high school or college, there really hasn't been anything designed for them that they can play in and look good, so that was my first step and it's a woman owned business so you know. I would like to support him. Great, Mark, we'll get the deal done with Luca, but one thing we need to talk about is the Skechers spokesperson. You know, what I love is that you always used to tweet like, listen, what matters most to me is comfort, so I don't want to hear anything seriously, literally, I was in a movie theater, I was in Manhattan Beach, I just decided to go to see a movie, yeah, and the guy comes over, you're wearing Sketchers, I'm like you worked for Skechers.

Come on, let's get you a deal, so I did a commercial with him. Wow, really go to the movies. Come out with a deal. I love talking about Luca. We had him on the show about a year ago and we shot him. right here he got a deal with Jordan recently you're wearing yeah I love these yeah talk about that deal and what it means for the Mavs and him obviously yeah for Luca I mean Luca is the real deal a Of the beautiful things about him, he is the one. he is, he's not trying to be something, he's no different when the cameras are on, he loves shoes, yeah, he loves shoes and he loves colors, he loves design and he cares about it, so you'll see him try them all different styles, all different. he looks and then what he released last year and this year they look good yeah they're comfortable and lightweight so it's not like you know I like to wear them and wear them like you can play you can play.

In them, do you connect exactly from time to time, like during the playoffs, you were dressed like the 35 and it was like a big news like Mark Cuban is wearing, yeah, yeah, because I know that, like I'm sitting before a game, all those photos? they're going to be taken so I'm trying to help my guy for sure and one thing we have to talk about is their general manager Nico Harrison yeah she came from Nike or she's like Kobe's right hand man you know I was reading about him last time. night and had such a long history with Nike and like Kobe

mark

eting and things like that, what similarities can you see in a similar strategy in terms of going from that job to this job?

Nico worked at Nike for 19 years and worked his way. go from just being a representative to like being at the top right and you have to understand how to manage people you have to understand how to build a culture you have to know how to negotiate you have to know how to relate to players you have to know how to evaluate talent there that knowing the

mark

etability all the things that mattered Nike to Nico were the same here amazing the latest you don't have to care about a big Spielberg how excited are you for the season we're almost there, we're ready for the season To start Lucas Luca we have one of the two best players in the NBA Christian Wood Spencer Dinwiddie the whole team we have a good place absolutely fine we talk about everything now it's the easy part browser shell see if you're going to accept yes, no, I'm Ready, let's do it right, thanks for coming to sneaker politics today.

What are you looking at? Congratulations, man. I love all entrepreneurs and what you've been able to build, I especially appreciate it, like I have two kids who like shoes. Alyssa Grayson Cuban who I just saw these acgs yeah the initials yeah you know it lizard so I have to get them no matter what okay do you have these in other colors? Yes, we are doing well, so we will find out what color for sure, my son. I know I would love these okay and let's see where else we go here you know what I have to go with you know I love these shoes but they are the colors of North Carolina so I just can't go there but um and one of these for my son is fine and I'm fine, it's fine, I'm fine, I'm easy, look at the sizes, okay, how do you find everything I heard today, man, it was amazing, the store is amazing, I appreciate it, what's my total so it's going to be 608.35 it's a bargain yes sir go ahead and get this for yourself damn I also have something we wanted to give you too yes sir so these here are the policies A6 is our last collaboration with the Asic brand, that's great, we did something. for Veterans Day called always ready just wants you to know show some love sir that's cool man we do the math we make a seat for soldiers every year where we bring wounded military from local bases it's okay, so I'll represent them in that game. sure you tag us on that, sure, sure, that's the deal man, thanks Jake, and the list is going to freak out, oh yeah, that's what you're doing right, okay, just for your son, thanks , the boss will receive the payment, the last man, I appreciate it, thank you.

Many foreigners arrived, thank you very much for taking the time, no, thanks guys, this is incredible, you know where to find them. Shark Tank ABC and also the whole season with the Mavs, good luck, let's get to the math, we appreciate it and thanks to politics, thanks foreigners.