Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, recently claimed that Tanking is now the best strategy for his team. The NBA fined Cuban a record 600,000 dollars on Wednesday. There was also headwind from within the camp.
When Dirk Nowitzki was confronted with Cuban’s statement, he replied:”You can’t play in this league to lose. Especially when you’re out there as a young player, you have to give everything – otherwise you lose market value. There are all sorts of things that can happen if you don’t play hard. My advice to the young players can therefore only be that they should play hard and try to become better. And then what happens happens,”says Nowitzki.
“Players should never intentionally lose in this league. There may be defeats, of course, but we don’t play for them. I still love the competition,”Nowitzki continued,”which is one of the main reasons why I am still involved. I enjoy playing against people half my age and using my experience. I’ll never stand for losing on purpose. That’s not who I am.”
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle agreed with Nowitzki and said that he had spoken to Cuban for a long time about these remarks and said,”He has sincerely apologized. I think he’s embarrassed about it himself,”Carlisle says,”the positive thing is that he’s going to double the $600,000 fine by donating $600,000 to a non-profit organization.”
Carlisle said to the Mavs:”We play all year round with a lot of heart. We will continue to do so, and that’s the way it goes for us.”
Until the All-Star Break, Dallas had an 18-40 record. The Mavericks took the last place in the Western Conference.