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\n Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban took to social media to defend NBA teams that intentionally lose games to improve draft position. Cuban criticized the league’s recent fines against teams for tanking, arguing the NBA should focus more on fan affordability than game integrity concerns.\n <\/p>\n
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Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban posted extensive comments on social media Tuesday defending the controversial practice of NBA teams intentionally losing games to secure better draft positions, while blasting the league\u2019s recent disciplinary actions against franchises suspected of tanking.<\/p>\n
Cuban\u2019s lengthy social media statements came just three days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discussed potential changes to the draft lottery system and mentioned the possibility of taking away draft picks from offending teams.<\/p>\n
Last week, Silver announced a $500,000 penalty against Utah after the Jazz benched key players Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. during the final quarter of their defeat to Orlando. The commissioner warned the league \u201cwould respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuban fired back at Silver\u2019s stern warning with pointed criticism of the league\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst that the NBA dishes out is that if you don\u2019t lie to your fans about what you are doing, even though it\u2019s obvious to them, you get fined,\u201d Cuban wrote. \u201cAnd (they) threaten you with losing picks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Pritchard, Indiana\u2019s basketball operations president, joined the conversation after his Pacers received a $100,000 fine alongside Utah for roster management decisions. Pritchard asked fans on social media whether they supported Cuban\u2019s position, and most responded affirmatively.<\/p>\n
Indiana advanced to the NBA Finals last season before falling to Oklahoma City. Star player Tyrese Haliburton suffered an Achilles injury in Game 7 and is expected to miss the entire 2025-26 campaign. The Pacers stumbled through their first 13 games with 12 losses and endured a 13-game skid that left them at 6-31, though they\u2019ve played .500 basketball since.<\/p>\n
Dallas faces comparable circumstances one year after sending generational talent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for frequently injured center Anthony Davis, just nine months following the Mavericks\u2019 Finals appearance.<\/p>\n
Davis spent more time injured than playing for Dallas before being dealt to Washington at this year\u2019s trade deadline, completing the franchise\u2019s retreat from the unsuccessful Doncic transaction. The organization had already dismissed general manager Nico Harrison in November, the architect of the Doncic trade.<\/p>\n
Despite having only a 1.8% lottery probability, Dallas secured the top overall selection to draft former Duke standout Cooper Flagg this past summer.<\/p>\n
Flagg represents the franchise\u2019s future cornerstone, while the Mavericks must soon determine whether nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving will see any action this season. Irving tore his ACL in March, and Dallas entered the All-Star break mired in a nine-game losing streak, their longest drought in nearly three decades.<\/p>\n
Though Cuban no longer holds decision-making authority after relinquishing majority ownership, the league previously fined him $600,000 during the 2022-23 season for publicly acknowledging Dallas was tanking to preserve a first-round selection. That strategy ultimately netted center Dereck Lively II, a talented prospect who has battled injury issues.<\/p>\n
As tanking discussions resurface, Cuban opened his social media post with \u201cWhy the NBA should embrace tanking,\u201d arguing that supporters don\u2019t object to the strategy because it provides optimism for franchise improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cFew can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to,\u201d Cuban wrote. \u201cThey can\u2019t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That\u2019s what makes the experience special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given this perspective, Cuban suggested the league should prioritize affordability over integrity concerns surrounding tanking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NBA should worry more about fan experience than tanking,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Dallas wasn\u2019t formally accused of tanking during the 2017-18 season, Cuban\u2019s post essentially confirmed they employed the strategy. The Mavericks posted their worst record in three decades at 24-58 but didn\u2019t benefit from lottery luck like this year. Dallas received the fifth selection and had to make trades to move up and select Doncic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t tank often,\u201d wrote Cuban, who also highlighted how current salary cap regulations have increased the value of productive rookie contracts for competitive teams. \u201cOnly a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban took to social media to defend NBA teams that intentionally lose games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[80926,80927,7,686,149,4057,80920,80928,80922,80923,80921,80924,166,6,80925],"class_list":{"0":"post-608819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallasmavericks","14":"tag-fine-day","15":"tag-fine-day-102-3","16":"tag-fine-day-fm","17":"tag-fine-day-media","18":"tag-fine-day-radio","19":"tag-have-a-fine-day","20":"tag-mavericks","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116088484886595504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}