Mavs owner Mark Cuban fined $600,000 for comments made during a podcast with Dr.J
The Mavericks are 18-40 coming out of the All-Star break, currently just one-half game away from the worst record in the NBA. They are set to miss the playoffs for the second season in a row after reaching the postseason in 15 of the last 16 years. Their owner Mark Cuban has been fined $600,000 for making public statements detrimental to the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver announced Wednesday.
During a podcast that was featured on February 18th with Dr. J, Cuban said that it's in his team's best interests to lose on purpose for the remainder of the season in order to better position themselves for the draft lottery.
Cuban knew the head of the league wouldn't like his thinking so he said --- "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. "Adam 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 of 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."
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Cuban's comments came in the wrong time especially because Sports Illustrated published an article Tuesday night alleging crude sexual harassment on the part of former Mavs president and CEO Terdema Ussery. The article also claims a former writer for the Mavs' website kept his job despite committing multiple acts of domestic assault.