The NBA Decided To Fine The Dallas Mavericks $750,000 For Their Blatant Tanking To End The Season
Tim Heitman. Getty Images.
How much is the #10 pick worth? We now know the price is a cool $750,000. Seems like a good deal if you ask me.
If there's one thing we all could have seen coming, it's that the second the NBA announced they were opening an investigation into the Mavs for quitting on their season, you knew they weren't going to walk away clean. Silver couldn't do anything drastic since everyone tanks, especially late in the year, so a 750K fine is probably the most he could do.
The whole thing still seems weird to me. Yes, the Mavs made it VERY clear that they wanted to lose and miss the Play In. They wanted to protect that pick because it was clear that the team was not going to win a title. We all saw their defense, it stunk out loud. As I pointed out a few weeks ago, I'm just not sure how different their actions are compared to someone like the Jazz.
A quick reminder for those who may not have seen that blog, the Jazz had won 4 of 5 heading into their 3/22 game and were still in play for a top 10 seed. Danny Ainge immediately sat everyone and tanked, resulting in this stretch
When you go back and look at the league's statement, isn't this basically what the Jazz did too?
"Demonstrated through actions and public statements the organization’s desire to lose the game in order to improve the chances of keeping its first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
I may have missed it, but there isn't a $750,000 fine for the Jazz right? OK so maybe they didn't "publicly" say it, but their actions certainly did. How is it possible that what the Mavs did failed the fans and the league, but the Jazz didn't? Or any other team that tanked late? This feels to me like the NBA was just pissed at Mark Cuban and was embarrassed by his actions, so they hit him in his wallet.
In the end, I don't think a billionaire like Cuban is going to give a shit about $750,000, especially if that pick ends up being a draft hit or is part of a package that brings in some better win now talent. That's just an investment in their future depending on how you look at it.
Not only that, but now we have precedent. If you're a team in a similar position as the Mavs were this year and you need to make a similar decision, now we know the only thing that's going to happen is a $750,000 fine. You bet your ass if there's another team next year that could lose a pick if they make the Play In, they are going to do their best to not win. That's why this whole "investigation" seemed so weird in the first place. It felt like it was less about doing what's "right" and more as a way for the league to stick it to Cuban personally. If they wanted to truly make an impact, strip the 10th overall pick. Obviously that can't happen, so I'm not sure what this even accomplishes.
The bad news for the Mavs and their fans is they have way bigger fish to fry than this issue. Kyrie is an UFA, Christian Wood is an UFA, Jason Kidd is still their coach, they don't have a ton of assets to trade in order to drastically improve their roster, the free agent class this summer isn't even all that great to begin win, so I'm not sure what they do. This feels like a team that might either be stuck in the middle in NBA Purgatory, or worst case they lose Kyrie/Wood for nothing and then you have to start worrying about Luka and how long he's going to want to play on a team that isn't competitive.
Part of me hopes the Mavs are in a similar position next year and Cuban does the exact same thing just to stick it to Adam Silver. These two clearly despise each other and Cuban has more money than God so this feels like a beef that could last for a while.