Why was Mark Cuban's NBA team fined? Reason behind latest fine explored
Mark Cuban's Dallas Mavericks were recently fined $750,000, which is one of the largest fines in NBA history. The Mavs were fined for tanking as they gave their best to lose their final two games of the season on purpose.
If the Mavericks had won their last two games, they would have played in the play-in tournament. However, they had little to no incentive to do this as they also have a top-10 protected pick in the upcoming NBA draft.
Not only was it obvious that Mark Cuban wanted his team to lose, but Jason Kidd, the Mavericks head coach, even admitted this. The NBA launched an investigation shortly after their game against the Chicago Bulls and fined Dalls.
Mark Cuban was relieved when the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Chicago Bulls
In their second-to-last game of the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks hosted the Chicago Bulls. Right before the game started, the Mavs announced that a few of their key players, including Kyrie Irving, would be out for the matchup.
Luka Doncic, who's expressed a desire to play and compete in the play-in tournament, spent only 13 minutes on the floor. The Mavericks lost the game by three points, 115-112, and Mark Cuban looked relieved after the loss.
To make things worse, Jason Kidd openly admitted that the Mavericks were tanking. This is what made the NBA's investigation much easier.
“We want to have the opportunity to find a way to get in. We were going to play until told otherwise,” Kidd said. “And today is the day that we’ve been told that we’re going to do something different.”
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The Mavericks tanked in their last game of the season as well. Once again, they played at home, yet they couldn't beat the San Antonio Spurs, a team with one of the worst records in the league. Dallas got blown out, 138-117.
Jason Kidd was asked if he agreed with the Mavericks' organizational decision to sit several of their top players tonight:
"Those are my bosses, so yes." https://t.co/OJc68SQvbA
While the Dallas Mavericks were hit with a $750,000 fine, the truth is that this was just a slap on the wrist. To put this into perspective, their players earned approximately $2.1 million combined for their game against the Bulls.
Also, Mark Cuban's net worth is estimated to be $4.6 billion in 2023. This means that the fine was equal to 0.016% of his total net worth.
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Thanks to their losses, the Mavericks ended the season with a 38-44 record, the 10th worst record in the league. Their chance of getting the 10th pick in the draft is 65.9%. If their pick falls out of the top 10, it will go to the New York Knicks.
Mark Cuban's team also has a 3.0% chance to get the first pick and draft Victor Wembanyama.