The NBA fined outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $600,000 on Wednesday for acknowledging his team wanted to tank – a practice where teams aim for a lower win total to help their position in the next draft.
Cuban, 59, told Hall of Famer Julius Erving during a podcast that he met recently with some of his players and told them ‘losing is our best option.’ Cuban was trying to illustrate to Erving how he believes he is a transparent owner.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the fine was for ‘public statements detrimental to the NBA.’
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban looks on from the crowd during NBA All-Star Saturday in Los Angeles. The NBA has fined outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $600,000 for comments about tanking during a podcast with Hall of Famer Julius Erving
‘I’m probably not supposed to say this, but I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night,’ Cuban said. ‘And here we are. We weren’t competing for the playoffs. I was like, “Look, losing is our best option.”
‘Adam would hate to be hearing that. But at least I sat down and I explained it to them. And I explained what our plans are going to be this summer, that we’re not going to tank again. This is like a year and a half of tanking. That was too brutal for me.’
Tanking does not involve players intentionally losing games.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver called Cuban’s comments ‘detrimental to the league.’ Cuban has been fined over $2 million since buying the Mavericks in 2000
Rather, the practice typically relies on teams playing younger, developing players in favor of experienced veterans who would give the team a better a chance at winning.
And that certainly appears to be the trend in Dallas.
The Mavericks dumped veterans Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut around the trading deadline last season and had their highest draft pick (No. 9) since ending up with Dirk Nowitzki from that spot in 1998. They drafted rookie point guard Dennis Smith Jr., one of the league’s rising stars.
After trading veteran guard Devin Harris to Denver at the deadline this season, Dallas (18-40) is tied for the fewest wins in the NBA and among seven teams with 18 or 19 victories at the All-Star break.
Coach Rick Carlisle said he talked to Cuban in ‘great detail’ about the comments Tuesday night and that his owner apologized for them.
‘He’s embarrassed by it,’ Carlisle told The Dallas Morning News after the team’s first post-All-Star break practice in Los Angeles. ‘As far as our team, we’ve played with a lot of fight all year long, and we will continue to do that and that’s how we’re going to proceed.’
Dirk Nowitzki, who has spent all 20 seasons with the Mavericks, took Cuban’s comments in stride.
‘Players never play to lose,’ said Nowitzki, the franchise leader in nearly every significant category. ‘It might happen, but you don’t play for it. I still love to compete, that’s one big reason why I’m still out there. I’ll never stand for losing on purpose. It’s just not who I am.’
It’s the largest NBA fine for the oft-penalized Cuban, surpassing the $500,000 he was docked in 2002 for criticizing former director of officials Ed Rush when he said he wouldn’t hire Rush to manage a Dairy Queen. Cuban has been fined more than $2 million, a lot of it for criticizing refs.
‘I earned it,’ Cuban told The Associated Press when asked about the latest fine. ‘I got excited talking to Dr. J and said something I shouldn’t have.’
In what some including ESPN have referred to as the NBA’s ‘tank battle’ several teams are jockeying for better position in anticipation of a highly-regarded 2018 draft class.
Arizona center Deandre Ayton, Texas center Mohamed Bamba, Duke power forward Marvin Bagley III, Oklahoma guard Trae Young, and Slovenian sensation Luka Doncic are a few of the promising teenagers expected to among the first picks in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Cuban’s fine came on the same day the franchise was accused of having a hostile workplace for women in a Sports Illustrated report that detailed allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by former team president and CEO Terdema Ussery.
Cuban said he was embarrassed by the allegations and vowed to improve the club’s work environment. He is hiring outside counsel to investigate the claims and requiring everyone to undergo sensitivity training, including himself. The NBA has said it will monitor the investigation closely.
The team fired website reporter Earl Sneed, who was twice accused of domestic assault while working for the team. Sneed pleaded guilty over the first incident, and the charge was dismissed after he met conditions of the plea agreement. Cuban told ESPN it was a mistake not to fire Sneed earlier.