This is what will make teams think if they consider “tanking” too visibly… Guilty of having put several holders to rest in a decisive match in the “play-in” race, the Mavericks have just received a $750,000 fine! A huge sum that comes on top of the three million dollars in fines already paid by Mark Cuban since he owned the franchise. Cuban’s biggest fine so far was $600,000, and that was for comments about officiating.
In his press releasethe NBA explains that the Mavericks have shown a ” harmful conduct in the championship during the match against the Bulls on April 7: “ The Mavericks violated the league’s player rest policy and demonstrated through actions and public statements a desire to lose the game in order to improve their chances of retaining their first-round draft pick.
Furthermore, the NBA believes that the players who participated in the match were not playing to win. » Through the voice of Joe Dumars, the NBA judges that the franchise has “undermined the integrity of our sport” and the “The Mavericks’ actions have disappointed our fans and our league. »
