Adam Silver critical of Mark Cuban for pro-tanking comments

Mark Cuban is never afraid to voice his opinion, but it was still a little surprising when Cuban blatantly admitted the Mavericks tanked for part of this season.

“Once we were eliminated from the playoffs, we did everything we could to lose games,” Cuban said recently.

It’s a sound strategy, of course — look at the 76ers and Lakers and how they got to the prime position they’re in today. But you had to know the NBA would contact Cuban and reprimand him. The league can’t have owners advocating for intentionally losing games.

“Yes, it’s not what you want to hear as commissioner,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at Wednesday’s Board of Governors press conference. “I will say that Mark has a long track record of being provocative, and it was something that we spoke to him directly about. I think he acknowledged it was a poor choice of words. When we looked at what was actually happening on the floor, which is most important to me, there was no indication whatsoever that his players were intentionally losing games. And so we were satisfied with that, and again, and we moved on.”

Another situation that Silver handled adeptly. He didn’t sweep it under the carpet or avoid it; he took action and handled it with maturity.

Dallas waived its starting point guard, Deron Williams, but after watching Williams in the Finals for Cleveland, can you really blame the Mavericks? In retrospect, that doesn’t seem like a complete tank-oriented move.

Dallas went 2-5 after the Mavs, who finished 33-49, were eliminated from postseason contention. They eventually landed the No. 9 pick, which they used to select NC State’s electric guard Dennis Smith.