Billionaire Shark Tank investor and basketball team owner Mark Cuban hasn't ruled out running for president in 2020 after claiming that the coronavirus pandemic has created a "reset" that could open the field for his campaign.
He said he "doubts" he would make a legitimate run this late in the race, with a Democratic field that has whittled down to former vice president Joe Biden and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders seeking the party's nomination to face Donald Trump in the general election, but "you never say never," he said, adding that it's doubtful he'll actually join the fray.
"I'll keep an open mind, but I seriously doubt it," he told Axios on Friday. "If this would would've been a month ago, I would have said absolutely not. But obviously things are crazy, things are changing."
But the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team said he doesn't doubt that he's too late to emerge as a viable candidate.
He said "it's plausible" and "definitely doable" but a question of whether he "should."
"That's what I don't know," he said.
If he does enter the race, he would be the third billionaire to run among 2020 candidates, after Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg failed to punch through the Democratic nominee after spending millions of dollars and ultimately netting only a handful of delegates among them.
It's not the first time he has mulled a presidential run, previously as an independent, but has largely dismissed the idea and claimed talks of any plans are "overblown."
His latest remarks follow his praise for the forgivable loans offered under the CARES Act, which he called "literally the best stimulus bill ever for small businesses" and encouraged small businesses apply for the $349bn plan.
Mr Cuban also is advising Project N95, a nonprofit group to connect hospitals connect with mask suppliers, and has sided with the president to call out what he perceives is a lack of transparency from 3M, which is manufacturing critically needed face masks for health workers.
The investor has had a relatively friendly relationship with the president that has rarely turned adversarial — he supported Mr Trump's White House bid in 2015, then was a vocal critic. He also says the president still calls him for stock market advice, but he also slammed him for anti-immigration measures, like the ban on travel from majority-Muslim countries.
In 2017, the president said that Mr Cuban wasn't "smart enough" to run for president.
