Mark Cuban’s younger brother, Brian Cuban, has admitted to exchanging tickets for cocaine during the 2006 Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks.
Brian, a personal injury lawyer who struggled with drug use in the past, is 13 years recovering from alcohol, cocaine and bulimia. The author and recovery advocate spoke to CNBC Make It in a recent interview in which he claimed to be nothing like Mark or their younger brother Jeff.
“We’re different people. My brother [Mark] is driven by different things,” he said. “I’m never going to be a billionaire and I’m okay with that.”
According to CNBC’s report:
“In fact, as Mark Cuban built his massive fortune in the ’90s — through sale of his start-ups MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com — and later became the majority stakeholder in the the Dallas Mavericks in 2000, Brian Cuban was more focused on getting high. He remembers during the NBA Finals in 2006, when the Mavericks faced off with the Miami Heat, he was trading championship tickets to his drug dealer.”
“For years, my success was a good quality cut of cocaine,” Brian disclosed.
Brian also admitted to contemplating suicide in 2007 after hitting rock-bottom. His brothers took him to a Dallas hospital by force but he refused rehab, turning instead to a 12-step recovery program that set him on a path to regaining control of his life.
The 59-year-old says he hasn’t relapsed in 13 years.
“I don’t know that you ever really ‘complete’ the 12-step program,” he explains. “I still attend meetings. Recovery is a life process, at least for me.”
Mark, meanwhile, is still trying to help people. He was reported as having picked up homeless former NBA player Delonte West at a gas station last month. West is now in rehab.
