Mark Cuban Comments on Potential NBA Team in Mexico

As the NBA continues to expand its scope with more regular-season games taking place outside of the United States, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban hopes to see the league give Mexico its own team.

"I would love a team down here. I think it would really help the sport," Cuban said, per ESPN.com. "I would like to come back with the Mavericks, and every time that the NBA asks, we would love to be here."

Cuban's comments came after the Mavericks defeated the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, 113-108, in a game played at Mexico City Arena.

This is a busy week for the NBA outside of the United States. In addition to the Mavs-Suns game, the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers played a game at the O2 Arena in London on Thursday, which Denver won 140-112.

The NBA has been focusing on increasing its popularity in Mexico, with Eric Gomez of ESPN.com offering stats to show how well the league's push in the country has been going: "In 2015, an NBA fact sheet stated 13 million people follow the game within the country immediately to the south of the United States. Through the end of 2016, an updated document boasted a digital community of more than 1.2 million fans and followers across social media platforms alone."

The NBA's managing director in Mexico, Raul Zarraga, told Gomez over 40 million people in the country play basketball and "about 12.5 million people consume the NBA's content and entertainment in different formats."

While there are not currently official plans to bring an NBA team to the country, Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told EFE on Tuesday the games in his city "allow me to dream" about the possibility.

The Suns have another game scheduled in Mexico City on Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs. This is the first time the city has hosted multiple regular-season games in a season.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the NBA's regular-season debut in Mexico City, when the Mavericks lost to the Houston Rockets in December 1997.