Cuban To Mavericks Players: Losing Is Our Best Option
DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - With his team sitting near the bottom of the NBA in the standings, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban opened up about his desire for the team to lose as many games as possible down the stretch to help improve the club's odds of getting a top selection in the 2018 NBA Draft.
While speaking to Dr. J (Julius Irving) on his House Call Podcast, Cuban was discussing why he's so open and honest with his coaching staff and players when he decided to share his feelings on tanking.
"While nobody is perfect, no coach is perfect, no organization is perfect, I try to be really transparent. I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night and here we are, we weren't competing for the playoffs, I was like 'look, losing is our best option,' Cuban said. "Adam (Silver) would hate hearing that, but at least I sat down and explained it to them. I explained what our plans are going to be this summer, that we're not going to tank again. This is like a year and a half of tanking and that was too brutal for me. But being transparent, I think that's the key to being a quote-unquote player's owner and having stability that you've got to communicate. And you want the players to understand. As a player, even though you might not agree, at least if you respect the fact that someone took the time to talk to you and you understood their perspective, you're going to give me your feedback but you're part of the process."
The Mavericks currently have the third-worst record in the NBA at 18-40. They sit just a half-game ahead of the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks for last place, and a half-game behind the Orlando Magic and the Sacramento Kings for the four and five spots.
The Mavericks open the second half of the season on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
