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Luka Doncic wasn’t happy the Mavericks tried to lose Friday night time. Neither was the NBA.
The Mavericks nonetheless had an opportunity to achieve tenth place and the play-in match going into Friday night time’s sport towards the Chicago Bulls. However they sat plenty of their prime gamers, together with Kyrie Irving, and sat Luka Doncic after his first basket of the second quarter. Dallas benched 5 of its prime eight gamers in all and sat two extra for the second half.
There have been two blatant examples of in-game tanking. First, Jaden Hardy hit a buzzer-beater earlier than halftime to provide the Mavericks a 13-point lead. He was benched for the remainder of the sport.
The short-handed Mavericks nonetheless managed to rally on the finish of the sport, however missed plenty of game-tying pictures within the last seconds. After Theo Pinson missed one, proprietor Mark Cuban visibly celebrated the loss from his courtside seats.
The Mavericks additionally deliberate to solely play Doncic for one quarter, regardless that it was an evening celebrating his residence nation of Slovenia. Then, they saved him in to get a bucket within the second, hoping the gang would give him an ovation. They did not.
Cuban is a prolific tweeter, however he hasn’t commented on the Mavericks’ blatant tanking. Maybe that is as a result of in 2018, the NBA fined Cuban $600K for admitting that Dallas was tanking. On a podcast, he informed Julius “Dr. J” Erving that he informed his gamers, “Dropping is our greatest possibility.”
It most likely was their best choice, because the Mavericks’ No. 5 draft place allowed them to commerce up for Doncic. However the NBA does not need groups to overtly attempt to lose — particularly with the league’s elevated partnerships with playing web pages. Plus, it is one factor to tank for a excessive lottery choose. The Mavericks are tanking in hopes of preserving the No. 10 choose, which they’d owe the Knicks subsequent yr as an alternative. That is not a lot comfort for the Dallas followers.
Cuban might have greater than the NBA to fret about. According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, workforce officers concern Doncic may request a commerce as early as subsequent summer season if his frustration with the Mavs continues. Friday night time’s debacle is not going to assist issues, particularly after Doncic said Tuesday that he needed to maintain attempting so long as his workforce had an opportunity on the playoffs.
The league hates brazen tanking. So does Doncic.
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