Dallas Mavericks boss Mark Cuban is one of the best owners in NBA history. His passion for the game of basketball is remarkable and he's turned the Mavs franchise into a hallmark organization.

Cuban was born on July 31, 1958, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, he sold sets of garbage bags to save up money for a pair of shoes he really wanted. In high school, Cuban became a stamp and coin salesman, as he was trying to make money in any way possible.

Cuban has always been ahead of the curve. He started taking psychology classes at the University of Pittsburgh during his junior year of high school and even skipped his senior year to start college early. After his freshman year at Pittsburgh, Cuban transferred to Indiana University, where his understanding of supply and demand extended deeply.

After graduating college in 1981, Cuban moved back to Pittsburgh and took a job with Mellon Bank, just as the company was ready to switch over to computers. He left Pittsburgh for Dallas in 1982 and formed his own consulting business called MicroSolutions. Cuban wound up selling the firm to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990.

In 1995, Cuban and Todd Wagner started AudioNet, which allowed fans to listen to Indiana Hoosier basketball games online. The company, which was renamed Broadcast.com, went public in 1998. Cuban and Wagner sold out to Yahoo! for nearly $6 billion.

2000 is when Cuban purchased the Mavericks for $285 million from Ross Perot Jr. The Pennsylvania native was a longtime season ticket holder, so he was eager to turn the organization into a winner once he had the money to buy the franchise.

Forbes reported that as of February 2019, the Mavs are valued at $2.25 billion. Behind Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas won the 2011 championship over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Miami Heat. Nowitzki won Finals MVP by averaging 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He also shot 97.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Mark Cuban married his longtime girlfriend Tiffany Stewart in 2002. The couple has three children together, daughters Alexis (born 2003) and Alyssa (2006) and son Jake (2010). The family lives in the Dallas area.