Count Mark Cuban as pro-NBA tanking.
Cuban, the former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, says the fan experience is chief among the reasons the NBA should "embrace tanking."
Why the NBA should embrace tanking -
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 17, 2026
The NBA has kate been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It's never been that way that way.
When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They...
"Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can't remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That's what makes the experience special," Cuban wrote on X.
Last week, the NBA fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000, with the NBA saying both teams sat healthy players in recent games while noting that moves that compromise the league's integrity won't be tolerated.
Cuban, who still owns a share of the Mavericks, challenged that approach and says the league should be more transparent in tanking discussions.
"The worst s--- that the nba dishes out, is that if you don't lie to your fans about what you are doing , even though it's obvious to them , you get fined. And the threaten you with losing picks," he wrote.
Tanking Part 2: Why it's "worse" now
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 17, 2026
1. College basketball players are pros. They are paid for performance more than potential. So while the nba values younger players who will continue to develop , they are now playing against bigger, better, higher BBIQ players because...
Cuban says tanking helped to get Luka Doncic in the 2018 draft. The Mavericks went 24-58 in 2017, the season before drafting Doncic, who was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2025.
"We didn't tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team," he wrote.
Cuban wrote that the team was fined $600,000 after that, saying "It's a joke."
One of the most blatant episodes of tanking occurred in April 2023, when the Mavericks were still mathematically alive for a play-in spot but owed a top-10-protected 2023 first-round pick to the Knicks. Dallas elected to rest Kyrie Irving and Doncic against the San Antonio Spurs in its last game. In the previous game against the Chicago Bulls, Irving did not play and Doncic played 12 minutes. The Mavericks lost both games.
The Mavericks ultimately were fined $750,000 for conduct detrimental to the league, but they kept their pick and eventually traded down two spots with Oklahoma City to select Dereck Lively II at No. 12.
In his post on X, Cuban said fans make the league, and the NBA must embrace that and create better experiences for them.
"When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren't. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans," he said.
To Cuban, a good fan experience also includes affordability.
"You know who cares the least about tanking , a parent who cant afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player," he wrote. "[The NBA] should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking."
Tanking also proves to fans that teams are looking ahead to next season, Cuban wrote.
"Fans know their team can't win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team's record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring."
Over the All-Star Weekend, commissioner Adam Silver addressed questions about tanking, acknowledging that tanking has been "worse this year than we've seen in recent memory" and he is considering "every possible remedy," including taking away draft picks, to stop it.