Tom Dundon Trends After Stanley Cup Glory and “El Cheapo” Trail Blazers Backlash Collide
Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon just won the Stanley Cup, but his cost-cutting moves as the new Portland Trail Blazers owner have made him one of the NBA's most polarizing figures.
Tom Dundon is trending for reasons that could not be more contradictory. The Carolina Hurricanes owner just hoisted his first Stanley Cup, yet he has simultaneously become one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA after buying the Portland Trail Blazers for $4.25 billion in March. Fans and media are now debating how the same owner can look like a hockey hero and a basketball villain at the same time.
Dundon, who made his fortune in subprime auto finance through Dundon Capital Partners, took a majority stake in the Hurricanes in January 2018 and assumed full ownership in 2021. Under his watch, Carolina snapped a nine-year playoff drought in his first season and has made the postseason every year since. That patience paid off in historic fashion this spring, when the Hurricanes posted the NHL’s first 12-1 start to a postseason in 50 years, dispatched the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Final, and won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 2006. The title run has already sent bettors digging through DraftKings Promo Code offers to back Carolina as a repeat favorite next season.
From Cup Champion to “El Cheapo”
The goodwill from Raleigh has not traveled to Portland. Shortly after the NBA Board of Governors approved his purchase of the Trail Blazers in late March, Dundon became a lightning rod for criticism over a series of cost-cutting moves during Portland’s first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. Longtime Blazers reporter Sean Highkin reported that Portland was the only road team in the entire playoff field that did not fly its two-way players — Caleb Love, Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent — to San Antonio for the opening games, reportedly to save money. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix separately reported that Blazers staffers were told to check out of their Phoenix hotel rooms hours before the team’s bus departed, simply to dodge late checkout fees.
The backlash intensified when Trail Blazers president Dewayne Hankins confirmed that fans attending the Moda Center’s first home playoff game since 2021 would not receive the traditional free playoff T-shirts. Co-owner Sheel Tyle tried to calm the outrage by posting that the organization was “doing something else” instead, but the damage was done. Veteran media personality Bill Simmons dubbed Dundon “El Cheapo,” a nickname that stuck instantly across NBA circles. Portland went on to lose the series in five games to San Antonio, which advanced to the Western Conference Finals, prompting NBA bettors to reassess the Trail Blazers’ long-term outlook through resources like FanDuel Sportsbook Review before locking in futures for next season.
Layoffs and a Bigger Pattern
NBA legend Carmelo Anthony piled on during an appearance on the “7 AM in Brooklyn” podcast, blasting the decision to skip playoff T-shirts and leave Love off the travel roster. “You don’t come with the iron fist right away like that with the people who support you,” Anthony said, arguing that Dundon needed to better understand the Trail Blazers’ relationship with their fan base before making sweeping changes.
The cost-cutting did not stop once the playoffs ended. A few weeks after Portland’s postseason exit, the franchise laid off more than 70 members of its business operations staff, a move that fueled speculation among fans about the team’s long-term stability in Portland. Dundon has pushed back on the framing, telling The Athletic in a recent interview that he does not make decisions to save money — he makes them to win. He also expressed regret specifically over the two-way player decision, saying he wishes he had anticipated how much drama it would create during the playoffs, a sentiment that hasn’t stopped fans from using an Odds and Probability Calculator to gauge how much the backlash could shift Portland’s win totals next year.
Fans tracking futures on the FanDuel Promo Code page have already flagged Portland as a value bet next season if the front office settles down. Reports of a modest salary ceiling — reportedly around $1.5 million — for Portland’s next head coach have only added to the perception that Dundon runs a tighter ship than most NBA owners are used to. Bettors browsing the Sportsbooks hub for futures markets have noted the irony of an owner drawing praise on one coast and criticism on the other. Meanwhile, back in Carolina, there has been no such controversy. Dundon sold a 12.5 percent stake in the Hurricanes to three new minority owners in March, a deal reportedly worth $332.5 million at a $2.66 billion franchise valuation, even as the team kept rolling toward its championship.
Two Franchises, Two Very Different Receptions
The contrast is now the story. In Raleigh, Dundon is celebrated as the steady hand who built a perennial contender into a champion. In Portland, he is the subject of viral clips and “El Cheapo” memes just months into his tenure. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was even asked to weigh in on the NBA backlash surrounding an NHL owner, offering only that Dundon “has his way of doing things.”
Whether Trail Blazers fans come around will likely depend on results rather than optics. Dundon has made clear he views the layoffs, travel decisions and coaching budget as part of a broader restructuring aimed at building a winner in Portland the way he did in Carolina. For now, though, the split reputation — Stanley Cup champion on one coast, NBA’s most scrutinized new owner on the other — is exactly why his name is spreading across social media and sports conversation this week.