What to know about possible new Dallas Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson

Who is Miriam Anderson, the prospective new owner of the Dallas Mavericks?

According to reports, Mark Cuban plans to sell the NBA franchise for $3.5 billion to Anderson. This sale would create one of the more unique ownership groups in the NBA.

In the proposed deal, Cuban would retain control of basketball operations while Adelson and her family become the team’s principal owners.

Who is Adelson and how did she make her fortune?

An Israeli native, Adelson was born in Tel Aviv and is the wealthiest Israeli in the world according to Forbes.

Adelson and her family are worth a reported $32.3 billion according to Forbes.

Adelson has four children, two from her first marriage to Ariel Ochshorn and two from her second marriage to Sheldon Adelson.

Adelson was born to Polish parents in 1945 who fled Poland before the Holocaust. Adelson was raised in Israel and attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine, where she earned her bachelor’s and medical degrees, respectively.

Farbstein to Adelson

Adelson, born Farbstein, would become a physician assistant at Rockefeller University in 1986 where she would meet her second husband, Sheldon Adelson after being set up on a blind date.

The pair married in 1991 and would remain married until Sheldon Adelson’s death in 2021. Sheldon Adelson made his fortune as a casino magnate with buildings in Las Vegas, Singapore and China as he became one of the world’s wealthiest men.

Upon his death, Miriam Adelson became the owner of Las Vegas Sands, the company founded by her late husband which has $22.039 billion in total assets.

Adelson’s work as a doctor was focused on substance abuse issues which played a part in her opening the first abuse center and research clinic in Tel Aviv. She is also a noted philanthropist starting the Adelson Foundation in 2007 to further help with substance abuse research and to combat anti-semitism.

Adelson is also a GOP megadonor who was the largest individual contributor to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and received the Medal of Freedom from Trump in 2018. In 2020 she and her late husband were reported to have spent $172 million in support of GOP initiatives.

Adelson’s purchase of the Mavs has yet to be finalized and would need approval from the NBA’s board of governors.