Tanking and how to prevent it has become the subject of the day in the NBA. But while everyone else is zigging in trying to figure out how to stop it, former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants the NBA to embrace it.
Several teams have appeared to throw in the towel on the 2025-2026 NBA season as the epidemic is spreading farther and wider than ever before. And the fact that it’s happening in February before even the NBA All-Star break has sent shockwaves through the league. Adam Silver pledged to address the dilemma and theories about what to do to stem the tide are everywhere.
But as far as Cuban is concerned, tanking should not be the NBA’s chief concern.
In a lengthy social media post, Cuban detailed his reasoning why the NBA should focus on affordability instead of each team feeling they can compete every season. He said that fans are realistic about teams that are not ready to win and said that the league’s biggest issue is improving the experience for fans and making games more accessible.
Why the NBA should embrace tanking –
The NBA has kate been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way that way.
When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They…
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 17, 2026
Cuban’s post reads in full as follows:
Why the NBA should embrace tanking –
The NBA has kate been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way that way.
When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren’t. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans.
Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can’t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That’s what makes the experience special.
Fans know their team can’t win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team’s record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring.
The one way to get closer to that is via the draft. And trades. And cap room. You have a better chance of improving via all 3 , when you tank.
We didn’t tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team.
The nba should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking.
You know who cares the least about tanking , a parent who cant afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player
Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are
You can understand where Mark Cuban is coming from, especially as a former owner and executive. Games are to expensive. And that’s not true in just the NBA, but in all sports. Younger generations are seeing less and less people as sports fans and cost – whether as a participant or a fan – is a major reason why.
But even given his personal experience as an owner, there are still plenty of voices in and around the league that will disagree with his stance on tanking. Yes, all the other executives currently in the NBA who are racing to the bottom in the hopes of finding the best and quickest path back to the top through the draft.
However, in the NBA, tanking is no guarantee given the wide variability in draft outcomes. Just look at Cuban’s former team landing Cooper Flagg out of nowhere in last year’s draft. The bigger issue is that it’s become more widespread than ever. Teams just aren’t tanking to land the next big superstar to help lead their team to glory. Teams are tanking to stay in the top five, teams are tanking to keep protected picks, teams are tanking for seemingly any reason they can find. The Mavericks did it in 2023 just to keep a Top-10 pick.
And for fans attending games, there’s a key difference in how NBA teams are currently approaching the matter. The Washington Wizards traded for Anthony Davis and Trae Young mid-season and neither one has suited up. Giannis Antetokounmpo may not play again for the Bucks this season. The Utah Jazz drew widespread criticism for sitting their starters in the fourth quarter in trying their best to lose games. Try explaining to a young fan why any team’s best players would play for the first three quarters and then sit on the bench with the game on the line.
And speaking of affordability, the issue is that fans are paying the same price for teams that are giving up in February as they where when they were competing in December. Yes, fans are smart enough to understand that losing now may lead to success later. But there is a difference between a legitimate rebuilding process that makes sense and pulling the plug midseason in the hopes of a few extra ping pong balls. There has to be a line somewhere, and the NBA has seen a number of teams go over that line this season.