The NBA is known for many things, including bad teams intentionally tanking for better odds in the draft lottery. That said, it’s one of those things people aren’t supposed to talk about, even though everyone knows it’s reality. Well, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban broke the unwritten rule.
“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but, like, I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night and here we are, you know, we weren’t competing for the playoffs I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option,’” Cuban said while speaking with Julius Irving on his show, “House Call with Dr. J.” “Adam [Silver] would hate hearing that, but I at least sat down and I explained it to them. And I explained what our plans were going to be this summer, that we’re not going to tank again, this was, like, a year-and-a-half tanking and that was too brutal for me. But being transparent, I think that’s the key to being kind of a players owner and having stability.”
Yeah, that probably wasn’t a smart move.
I mean, by all means, tell your players to tank. Just don’t tell the world that you told your players to tank. That said, nobody’s ever accused Cuban of being particularly closed-mouthed when it comes to saying what’s on his mind.
It wouldn’t be surprising whatsoever if Cuban gets a phone call from Adam Silver’s office sometime in the near future to have a little chat about all this.