DALLAS — Mavericks governor Mark Cuban is in the process of selling majority interest of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, the widow of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a person familiar with negotiations confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.

Cuban, 65, would maintain operational control, even though the Adelson family would own a greater than 50% stake, the person said, without divulging the percentage the Adelsons will purchase.

The pending deal, if finalized and approved by the NBA Board of Governors, would merge the interests of Cuban and the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which have planned to partner in building a Dallas resort casino and arena, if gambling is legalized in Texas.

“My goal, and we’d partner with Las Vegas Sands,” Cuban told The News last December, “is when we build a new arena it’ll be in the middle of a resort and casino. That’s the mission.”

NBA insider Marc Stein was first to report Cuban’s plans to sell an unspecified stake of the Mavericks to the Adelson family.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Bloomberg News reported Miriam Adelson was selling $2 billion of Las Vegas Sands Corp. stock in order to buy “a majority stake in an unidentified professional sports team.”

Cuban in January 2000 purchased a majority stake of the Mavericks for $285 million. Forbes’ most recent valuation of the Mavericks, published last month, had the franchise worth $4.5 billion, seventh-highest in the NBA.

Bloomberg also reported that the Adelson family has a binding purchase agreement “for a team, according to a regulatory filing,” adding that the Adelsons will use the proceeds from the offering as well as cash on hand to purchase the team.

Tuesday’s bombshell news came one day after Cuban confirmed that next year’s 16th season of ABC’s Shark Tank would be his last as one of the show’s sharks. Shark Tank is in the midst of its 15th season.