Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has admitted to tanking.
The NBA’s most recognizable owner appeared on the Dan Patrick Show today and told Patrick that once the Mavericks were eliminated from the playoffs the team focused on improving their draft position. Cuban told Patrick that, “we did everything we could to lose games.”
And while Dallas stopped short of forfeiting every game, Cuban did admit to playing the team’s young players as many minutes as possible and even joked about letting 7-foot-1 Salah Mejri jack up 3-pointers.
The Mavericks aren’t the first team to de-incentivize wins to improve their lottery chances. Hell, Sam Hinkie made a career out of gaming the system in pursuit of a top pick. The Los Angeles Lakers did everything in their power to stay in the top-3 of this year’s draft which meant a lot of losing. They were rewarded with the second overall pick.
But Cuban acknowledging the team’s tanking seemingly goes against a philosophy that he’s held for quite some time. In the early days of the 2016-17 season, as the Mavs struggled with injuries and looked to be destined for one of the league’s worst records, Cuban told ESPN that the team had no plans to tank.
Mostly, Cuban worried that intentionally tanking games can instill a losing culture in the franchise.
"“There are so many teams that became four years away from four years away because guys just learned how to lose… They stopped caring about any individual game and just got used to it, and you don’t want guys developing those bad habits."
Although Cuban seems to have reneged his earlier ideas about tanking, you can’t fault the Mavs owner for taking advantage of the system in place. Until a better system is in place it’s likely that tanking will be a part of the NBA for the foreseeable future.
Dallas has missed the playoffs only twice since Cuban became owner. The team has historically played hard, even when their chances of winning the title were minuscule at best. And with Nowitzki’s best years behind him, it might be time for the Mavericks to starting planning for life after Dirk.
And while you hope a team can build for the future while also trying to compete… it doesn’t always work out that way.
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But if anyone deserves a pass from the tanking criticism it’s Mark Cuban.