In the final game of their NBA regular season, the Dallas Mavericks sat all of the players who would normally start a game for them, with the exception of Luka Doncic. Luke played only the first quarter, in what was likely an attempt to appeal to the many Slovenian fans who were in attendance for “I Feel Slovenia Night”.1When the Mavs lost their final game, they closed any window to make the playoffs that they may have had – and the NBA opened an investigation into their conduct. 2
The NBA has now concluded that investigation, and have handed down a $750,000 fine to the Dallas Mavericks. The basis for this fine was stated to be “conduct detrimental to the league”.3 This clocks in as the 3rd largest fine in NBA history, with the only larger fines being given to the Minnesota Timberwolves for under-the-table free agent dealings, and Donald Sterling for making racist comments. 4 This is Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s 4th time being fined, with two previous fines being given out for publicly criticizing the game’s officiating, and one being given for a previous tanking investigation. In total, Cuban has paid $2.35 million to the NBA to cover all of these fines. Mark Cuban has a net worth which is upwards of $6.5 billion.5
Given that this is the Mavericks’ 4th fine since Mark Cuban purchased the team, and their 3rd fine in the last 5 years, it is hard to say whether or not this will have any impact on the Mavs behavior. With potentially franchise trajectory-altering players entering the upcoming draft, such as Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, it is hard to think that they will. The Mavericks stand to gain a lot of potential value if they keep their top-10 protected pick, value which could outweigh the $750,000 cost incurred by their actions. When analyzing this situation against a backdrop of a multibillionaire owner, it seems that we may see continued non-compliance from the Dallas Mavericks.
3) https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/14/dallas-mavericks-fined-tanking-investigation
4) https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/after-mavericks-penalty-heres-look-biggest-fines-nba-history
5) https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/mark-cuban/#xj4y7vzkg
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