A venture year after Haralabos “Bob” Voulgaris’ so called “telenovela” situation with the Mavericks, the former analytics guru has found a surprising new.
According to Marc Stein, Voulgaris is currently finalizing a deal to become principal owner of the soccer club CD Castellón in Spain’s third division.
Haralabos Voulgaris, formerly Director of Quantitative Research and Development for the Mavericks, is finalizing a deal to become principal owner of the soccer club CD Castellón in Spain’s third division, league sources tell me.
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— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 19, 2022
While the move may seem to be out of the blue, Voulgaris has never been afraid to state his desire to run a team. In an ESPN feature from 2013, Voulgaris said that his journey through the gambling world has led him to believe that he would “be able to put together a better team than almost any general manager in the league. If not maybe all.” Although Stein says that NBA teams around the league were still interested in his services, Voulgaris was focused on soccer ownership rather than staying in basketball.
Voulgaris was hired in 2018 as the Mavs’ director of quantitative research and development, but his role with allegedly much larger than that. The Athletic dropped a story at the end of the 2021 season that began the end of his tenure with the Mavericks, naming Voulgaris as the so-called “shadow GM” that caused rifts in the organization with former general manager Donnie Nelson and Mavs’ superstar Luka Doncic .
Voulgaris refuted those claims on a podcast soon after GM Nico Harrison did not renew his contract after it expired and owner Mark Cuban also denied The Athletic’s characterization of Voulgaris as well. Nonetheless, the bettor still believed Cuban could have done things to run the Mavs more “optimally,” and he may now have a chance to prove his ownership chops.
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