The NBA is currently at a crossroads, an issue Commissioner Adam Silver addressed during the All-Star break, stemming from teams blatantly embracing tanking.
Tanking refers to deliberately sitting players or making roster and coaching decisions to lose games, positioning a team for a higher pick in the NBA draft lottery in hopes of landing a potential franchise-changing player. Recently, the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers were fined for such actions, and Silver has proposed changes to discourage it.
However, Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban believes the league should focus less on tanking and more on the fan experience. He argues tanking shouldn't carry repercussions, a stance he detailed in a lengthy statement Tuesday.
"The NBA has long been misguided, thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It's never been that way," Cuban said.
"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. 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 build a better 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 can't afford to bring their three kids to a game and buy them a jersey of their favorite player. Tanking isn't the issue. Affordability and the quality of the game presentation are."
Read his full statement:
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Cuban's comments, however, didn't sit well with many fans, sparking significant backlash.
"This is a terrible take, and now you sound like the typical owner. I never thought you would forget how to be a fan. Tanking does take away from the product. Giving players ‘load management' is not fair to the fan. You could reduce the number of games, but you want the money," one fan wrote.
Another added, "What? This is a professional sport. How can you even talk about embracing tanking? This is such a backwards and weird take. Your players should be giving max effort at all times."
A third chimed in, "Rare awful take from you. No one is getting behind this."
"This has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The ‘NBA' is not in the basketball business? Dumbest [expletive] I've ever heard. This is why it's a dying league," another fan wrote.
Tanking has been around for decades. It's what struggling teams in nearly every sport resort to when reaching the playoffs is no longer realistic, as it maximizes their opportunity to rebuild.
Completely eliminating it is unlikely, but implementing harsher penalties for blatantly resting players without a legitimate injury designation is certainly something Silver could pursue.
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