Dallas – He may be the only NBA owner that votes this way come April 18, but Dallas Mavericks owners Mark Cuban reiterated Tuesday evening before his team’s game against the Seattle SuperSonics that his preference is for the team to stay in Seattle.

“My prejudice is against having a Dust Bowl division in this part of the country because I don’t think in the big picture that helps the NBA,” Cuban said. “I think the big market helps the NBA.”

However, Cuban said if presented with new information that shows the Sonics move to Oklahoma City serves the league well he could be swayed.

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Sonics chairman Clay Bennett has applied to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City. The league's Board of Governors, which consists of every owner in the 30-team league, will vote on the Sonics relocation application April 18th in New York.

Cuban was unaware the private investment group led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that partnered with the City of Seattle in a $300 million proposal to revamp KeyArena, had pulled the plug on the deal after the city failed to come up with $75 million to make the deal whole.

However, Cuban said Ballmer, who has courtside Sonics seats, would make a good NBA owner because of his passion for the game.

“I would love to see Steve Ballmer in the NBA,” Cuban said. “It would be phenomenal. There’s a little test for guys under 60 years old. Do they go and ever shoot a basketball?

“I don’t know if he still does, but I know Steve would get up early in the morning to play basketball. And that tells you something. Is it a business, or is it in your blood and you just love the game?”

Cuban said that passion was something he also liked about the Sonics previous owner, Howard Schultz. But Cuban said Schultz was sold a bill of goods by the NBA.

“There’s a lot of things that aren’t obvious until you look inside out, about the NBA and our economics. And that’s just the way it works," Cuban said.

“There’s a reason why we’re 0-for-since-I’ve-been-here in terms of our moves and expansion.”

If the Sonics were to move to Oklahoma City, Cuban said he would be against adding an expansion team because it dwindles further the pool of money each owner gets from revenue sharing.

The proximity of the Sonics to Dallas if they moved to Oklahoma City – the two cities are only two hours a part – would not weigh into his decision, Cuban said.

“It’s more market size than anything else, and value to the NBA,” Cuban said. “I mean we know Oklahoman City’s got great fans -- that’s not an issue. But they’re already NBA fans.”

Cuban believes Seattle’s 41-year history and mature fan base adds more value to the NBA, with fans traveling form Vancouver, B.C. and other part of Canada to see games, as well as attending games in different NBA cities.

“Once you’ve got an established base for a city that’s been around as long as Seattle has, there’s more value to the NBA than just the 13,000 showing up in Seattle," Cuban said. "They actually go to road games. You see people wearing Sonics jerseys."

Listen to the conversation with Cuban here.