The Dallas Mavericks have not played the national anthem prior to home games this season, and now we have a better idea of why.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has chosen not to play the anthem since the start of the season. The matter received attention on Tuesday when The Athletic published a story about it. Cuban said he made the decision in November but declined to comment further.
Shams Charania of The Athletic provided some context on Wednesday. He was told by a source that Cuban made the decision because many people feel the anthem does not represent them. The Mavs want to come up with a way to represent people from all communities at their games.
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
It’s unclear what the plan will be going forward. The NBA is leaving it up to teams how they want to conduct pregame activities this season, so the Mavs won’t be forced to change anything.
Cuban said in 2017 that he would be standing for the anthem and expected his players to do the same. He changed his stance last year and explained why in an interview. Cuban has shown he is not concerned with alienating fans who will be upset by this decision.
