For the majority of its run, ABC's "Shark Tank" has featured one of the nation's most outspoken basketball personalities in Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
In Season 10, Cuban may have met his match in the form of another such personality: former Suns great and Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
Later this season, Barkley will make his debut as a shark on "Shark Tank," a reality show in which up-and-coming entrepreneurs look to give away a portion of their business in exchange for the financial backing of a wealthy investor. The show airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC15.
Cuban, who has an estimated net worth of nearly $4 billion and has been featured on the show since its second season, said Barkley fit right in.
"Charles was hysterical," Cuban told ABC15's Craig Fouhy before the Mavericks took on the Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday. "Not only was he funny — he had us in stitches — but he’s got a great eye for the personalities in a business.
"There’s the horse and there’s the jockey, and Charles has a good understanding of business, but his ability to see what a person’s like and whether or not they can be a great entrepreneur was really impressive. He sat next to me, so we had a lot of fun."
Other guest sharks, such as former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, Spanx founder Sara Blakely and Skinnygirl cocktail creator Bethenny Frankel, will appear during season 10 of "Shark Tank."
Cuban said he enjoys fighting over potential investments with fellow sharks, including Frankel.
"We’re friends, but she likes to fight, and I like to fight right back with her because she’s smart, she’s intense, she’s a great businessperson, and so it’s a great opportunity for fans of the show to see just how intense we can get," he said.
"When the sharks fight, to me, that’s everything ... You’ll see some nice little shark fights. It’s a great season. It really was intense."
Cuban said "Shark Tank" is a reminder that the American dream is alive and well -- and he takes pride not only in making money with his investments, but in beating out Barkley and his fellow sharks, both during and after the show.
"Doing the show is easy. It only takes like three weeks of filming, four weeks of filming, but we’re really involved," he said. "It’s my pride on the line if I invest in these companies. I want them to be successful, not just for the financial side of it but just to prove that I can out-do the other sharks."
