Mavericks owner Mark Cuban indicated earlier in the season that he wasn’t sure if the team would tank this year or not, as his guys were playing hard and competing with some of the best teams in the league.
It appears as if he’s had a change of heart.
Cuban was fairly transparent in discussing the team’s strategy for the rest of the season, and well, let’s just say the tank is on.
“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,” Cuban revealed on the House Call with Dr. J podcast. “I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option.’”
And Cuban, who has been fined many times in the past, knows that commissioner Adam Silver probably won’t be thrilled with his candid comments.
“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.”
You can’t fault Cuban for feeling that way. Owners and front offices will continue to embrace the tank until the league adjusts its lottery process.
And Cuban isn’t wrong, either. The Mavericks are 18-40, so losing is indeed the best option right now.
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