The actions of the Dallas Mavericks are under scrutiny from league officials following a loss in their final regular season game. The Mavericks faced off against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, April 9th, and found themselves in a “win-and-in” situation going into the game. Their decisions to rest multiple starters for the duration of the game, and only play superstar Luka Doncic for one 2nd half possession, have been the subject of scrutiny following the team’s 138-117 loss.1Given the circumstances, the league has made Dallas the current ground-zero for their interest in preventing teams from tanking.
Prior to the game, the Mavericks had a chance to make the playoffs. Had they beaten the Spurs, they would have secured the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament. 2After losing, they were eliminated from contention. The Mavs were holding an 11-point lead headed into the 4th quarter, which quickly evaporated as the Spurs bench outplayed the Mavericks bench. League superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving did not play a single minute, and there were four other Mavs who normally are starters, but were relegated to the role of spectators for the contest. The Mavs provided injury status for their starting players as the given reason for their absence from the court, but that has not prevented the league from beginning an investigation. 3
The impetus for the alleged tanking by the Mavs stems from a trade which occurred in 2019 between the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knickerbockers. In the trade, the Mavs secured forward Kristaps Porzingis, who is now on the Washington Wizards, in return for a number of players and draft picks. 4One of these picks was a “Top-10 Protected” pick in 2023, and is hypothetically the reason for the Mavs tanking their final game. In the NBA, when a pick is “Top-10 Protected”, it allows the team which is “giving” up the draft pick to retain the pick in question, should the pick fall within the “protected” range – in this case, if the pick falls within the top 10. 5
After the loss to the Spurs, the Mavericks finished as the 10th worst team in the NBA. As a result, they have nearly an 80% chance of keeping their top-10 protected pick, and only a 20% chance this pick goes to the Knickerbockers. 6There is some precedent for Commissioner Adam Silver to rely on in terms of punishments that are given out for tanking. In 2018, Mavs owner Mark Cuban was fined $600,000 for comments he made about tanking. At the time, the multi-billionaire was quoted as saying “. . . I just had dinner with a bunch of guys the other night, and here we are, you know, we weren’t competing for the playoffs . . . ‘Look, losing is our best option’”. 7While $600,000 is an outrageous sum for most people, it appears the fine has not changed the behavior of the Mavericks owner. Adam Silver again discussed tanking earlier this year, with prospective star Victor Wembanyama preparing to enter the league in the 2023 season. 8The maximum fine Cuban could face is 1$ million, with the potential for suspensions to also follow. Until the league concludes its investigation and determines a potential punishment, all that is clear for now is that the Mavericks 2022 season has officially come to an end.
1) https://www.espn.com/nba/game//gameId/401469379
2) https://www.kens5.com/article/sports/nba/spurs/spurs-beat-mavericks-reserves-in-final-game- 138-117/273-efe3b5d8-3cef-4cc0-8f4a-fd42b50cf8eb
3) https://www.mavs.com/season-finale/
4) https://www.forbes.com/sites/doylerader/2022/02/10/dallas-mavericks-deal-kristaps-porzingis- to-washington-wizards-prior-to-nba-trade-deadline/?sh=4c9e44e75420
5) https://ballunlocked.com/protected-pick-nba/
6) https://thesmokingcuban.com/posts/dallas-mavericks-lottery-odds-2023-nba-draft
7) https://www.espn.com/nba/story//id/22532215/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-owner-fined-
600000-tanking-comments
8) https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/22/nba-monitoring-tanking-more-closely-this-season
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