Mark Cuban is back in the national news again, but this time the coverage goes far beyond the sports pages, and far beyond his self-appointed ongoing crusade to solve a national crisis by being the whistleblower on NBA whistleblowers.

The feds, of course, have accused the high-profile Dallas Mavericks’ owner of insider trading.

This comes at the same time basketball experts have labeled Cuban’s once-powerful team as an outsider fading.

There are two areas up for discussion:

(1) Cuban “saved,” “rescued,” “rebuilt” the Mavericks into a strong franchise, on and off the court. Almost any current story on Cuban states this as absolute fact. It’s not. It’s wrong.

(2) Somehow, the hierarchy of Major League Baseball is working with the government on this insider-trading charge, meaning MLB has created leverage in preventing Cuban from buying the Chicago Cubs. I love a good grassy knoll theory, but this one?

First, let us deal with Item No. 1.

When Cuban purchased the Mavericks in January 2000, it might have been the worst franchise in pro sports. It wasn’t a lack of money — Ross Perot Jr. owned the team at the time — but a lack of winning had doomed the Mavs for a full decade.

Rich guys, however, become rich at least partly because of luck and timing. Cuban was rich. But when he vastly overpaid for the Mavericks — and he did overpay — Mark had luck and timing.

He also had the good sense to keep Don Nelson as coach and general manager, when a popular thing to do at the time was fire Big Nellie. To this day, that has been Cuban’s best basketball decision.

Nelson had arrived here in 1997. His rebuilding had been a slow go, but the foundation for a massive turnaround was being laid.

When Cuban bought the team, he had Nelson in place, plus, a roster with three names — Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley. Here’s timing and luck: From the day Mark took over, the Mavs finished that season on a hot roll, going 31-19 to end up winning 40 games, their most since 1990.

The next season? The Mavs were big time with 53 wins, were back in the playoffs, and the surge was on.

This franchise was “saved,” rescued,” “rebuilt,” because of Dirk, Nash and Finley. Winning cures all. Winning does not happen without the right players.

Cuban had timing and luck on his side, but as Nelson would later say, “Mark brought an energy from the executive end that helped create a positive vibe from the top of the franchise to the end of the bench.”

Give Cuban credit for that. But don’t get carried away.

Item No. 2:

Baseball ownership is a fraternity, the same as the NFL, NHL, NBA, etc. It has the right to pick and choose its partners.

Nearly two years ago, as the news first surfaced that Cuban wanted to buy the Cubs, I heard this:

Bud Selig was telling his insiders “over my dead body.”

And why not? Based on Cuban’s actions as an NBA owner, and his public fights with Stern, why would Selig want any part of that?

In other words, Cuban wasn’t going to be welcomed by Selig and associates, no matter these latest problems with the government.

Mark is Mark. Take him or leave him. At the moment, the feds are trying to take him down.