The NBA have fined the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 after concluding the franchise violated league rules as they rested key players against the Chicago Bulls despite having a shot at reaching the playoffs.
Last Friday, the Mavericks fell to a 115-112 defeat against the Bulls, which eliminated Dallas from NBA Play-In contention. The Mavs entered the contest tied with the Bulls for the 10th-best lottery odds and the franchise owe the New York Knicks a top-10 protected pick as the final payment for the Kristaps Porzingis trade, who now plays for the Washington Wizards.
The NBA subsequently investigated the situation and ruled the franchise violated the league's player resting policy and showcased a desire to willingly lose a game in order to boost its chance of retaining its first-round pick in the 2023 draft, rather than see it go to the Knicks. Dallas head coach Jason Kidd declared it was an ‘organisational decision’ to rest the majority of the teams’ regular starting and key bench players, suggesting it was made by owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison.
On the morning of the clash with Chicago, the Mavs announced All-Star Kyrie Irving, shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., small forward Josh Green, power forward Maxi Kleber and center Christian Wood would all sit out against the Bulls for precautionary reasons. Superstar guard Luka Doncic played the first 12 minutes and 35 seconds before he was also rested for the remainder of the game - and the Mavericks went on to blow an 11-point lead in the fourth-quarter.
The NBA’s Executive Vice President Joe Dumars released a statement on Friday, which read: “The Dallas Mavericks' decision to restrict key players from fully participating in an elimination game last Friday against Chicago undermined the integrity of out sport. The Mavericks' actions failed our fans and our league.”
The NBA also revealed it did not find that the players who played in the game were not trying to win. While the franchise have been fined, Dallas will retain their top-10 draft pick - with a 4.5 percent chance of winning the lottery to obtain the first overall pick to spend on French star Victor Wembanyama.
Amid the hype surrounding Wembanyama, NBA commissioner Adam Silver declared the league wouldn’t tolerate any obvious tanking, which is when teams purposely lose to obtain higher picks in the NBA Draft which will ultimately help them pick young talents and secure long-term success. Back in October, Silver said: “I know that many of our NBA teams are salivating at the notion that potentially through our lottery that they could get [Wembanyama], so they should all still compete very hard next season.”
Back in 2018, Mavericks governor-owner Cuban once paid a $600,000 fine in 2018 for publicly admitting his franchise were tanking when they eventually finished 24-58. Commissioner Silver condemned his comments, labelling them as ‘public statements detrimental to the NBA’.
Cuban insisted the Mavs were not tanking when they pulled players from the clash with the Bulls. Last week, he said: “The guys don't want to do that. Players aren't going to do that. Players don't do that.”
