Mark Cuban, approached about the possibility of taking on Donald Trump as an independent candidate, said he doesn't "see it happening," the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks told the
Washington Post.
Cuban, also a cast member on ABC's entrepreneur reality show "Shark Tank," was one of the names that surfaced as a group of Republicans including Mitt Romney looked for an independent candidate who could defeat Trump, said the Post.
Cuban told the Post that the unnamed Republican recruiters told him he has the "bluster and volume, combined with substance and the ability to connect with voters on a more personal basis."
"(Trump) could come after me all he wanted, and he knows I would put him in his place," Cuban told the Post. "All that said, again, I don't see it happening. There isn't enough time."
It is not the first time Cuban's name has popped up in the presidential race. On May 10, he was asked on
CNBC's show "Squawk on the Street" if he would be Trump's vice presidential candidate, but the businessman quickly pivoted toward Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
"Forget Donald Trump asking me to be vice president or whatever," Cuban told CNBC. "Imagine if Hillary brought me in or brought somebody like me in and went more to the center and became more business friendly. It could change the entire tenor of the race. I'm more curious to see what she does, because we already know Donald's position."
Cuban, who sold the streaming service Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.6 billion in 1999, according to his
biography, told CNBC that Trump voters are looking for a change in politics.
"They're not coming out to the polls in record numbers because they like his position on any particular issue," Cuban said. "They're coming out because they're trying to send a message. They're sending a message that things have got to change and the one candidate that we think introduces change, particularly if you're on the right, is Donald Trump."
The Post said Nebraska freshman U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse and and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who dropped out of the Republican race May 4, have both been approached about an independent run.