NBA Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Spanked After Going Maverick

One has to wonder how billionaire Mark Cuban made money given the poor business instincts he displayed this week.

Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a franchise in the National Basketball Association – one of the four major league sports that’s seen a spiraling decline in viewership since taking on a social justice aura in the last few years – decided to further alienate his fan base by declaring that his team would no longer play the national anthem before games.

In Texas, even if the city is Dallas which is more “woke” than much of the rest of the state.

Such a move would not go over all that well in that part of the country, most Americans would agree.

As it happens, after Cuban made that announcement, the NBA itself issued a damage control statement from the main league office.

“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy,” the league said in a statement.

The league handbook also says that the players are to STAND during the playing of the national anthem, but the commissioner has not had that rule enforced of late, perhaps leading to the Mavericks owner thinking it was all fine and dandy to go rogue on the matter.

The national anthem will play prior to tonight’s game and Mark Cuban has released the following statement. pic.twitter.com/rEAD9jXbSw
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) February 10, 2021

Cuban has not provided details about the process that led to the decision. In response to NPR’s request for comment on Wednesday, a Mavericks representative confirmed only that the team hasn’t been playing the anthem.

In the past, Cuban has expressed frustration with people who complain about athletes’ attempts to call attention to systemic racism during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control,” Cuban said in a July 2020 tweet. “If you want to complain, complain to your boss and ask why they don’t play the National Anthem every day before you start work.”

Whatever world the players and some of the owners of NBA teams are living in, it’s not this one, where businessmen don’t alienate their customer base and expect to make a profit.

Source close to Mark Cuban says decision to not play Anthem before Mavs games isn’t because they don’t love U.S., but because many feel anthem doesn’t represent them, and they want to continue discussion of how to represent people from all communities when honoring U.S. at game.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2021