Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has been vocally against tanking, thinks losing is the only option for his team for the remainder of the season
The Dallas Mavericks are currently tied with Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks for the least amount of wins in the NBA.
Of that group of teams, the Mavs, along with the Suns, probably have the most active talent. However, at least for the remainder of this season, it’s probably in the best interest for all of these teams – and likely a number of others not mentioned – to lose as many games this season as they can.
In what is being labeled as a top heavy NBA draft, there will be a big difference in having a pick in the top 8 than having, say, pick No. 11 or 12.
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But even though losing is clearly the best option for a lot of these teams, it’s never really something that is openly discussed by team employees. However, Mark Cuban doesn’t play by the same rules.
While joining a podcast, Cuban told Julius Irving that he recently told a few players that the Mavs should continue to lose as many games as they can for the remainder of the season. While that is very much true, it’s odd to hear something like that from an owner.
"[via ESPN]Cuban told Julius Irving on the House Call with Dr. J podcast that he shared that sentiment with the team recently.“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 on the podcast. “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.”"
In fairness to Cuban, this is an owner that has been against openly tanking. And that is well evident by his actions during the offseason. Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks are always in the market for big name free agents and seem to always get in the room.
They’re, at the very least, trying to get better. Heck, they gave big money to Harrison Barnes just a few years ago, and tried to lure Hassan Whiteside away from the Miami Heat two summers ago.
Mark Cuban is 100 percent right here. Tanking is not great and probably, in the long run, bad for the league. But, at this point, the Dallas Mavericks have no other choice. It’s in the best interest for home to try to lose as many games as they can for the remainder of the season.
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In fact, that’s probably the case for many teams around the league. Mark Cuban just isn’t afraid to admit it.