Mark Cuban explains why NBA 'should embrace tanking,' prioritize fans in wake of Adam Silver's remarks

Former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban says the NBA needs to focus on prioritizing its fans by creating memorable experiences and not concern itself with tanking, this coming after commissioner Adam Silver promised over the weekend to increase punishment for tanking following recent significant fines for the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers.

In a social media post Tuesday, Cuban said the NBA should "embrace tanking" and admitted to doing so during his time with the Mavericks. Tanking is advantageous toward moving up in the draft, creating value with trades and extended cap room, all factors that could lead to a league championship, Cuban explained.

"When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren't," Cuban wrote. "They are in the business of creating experiences for fans. 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. 

"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."

The NBA is "misguided" in their perception of what fans want, Cuban claims. He said fans understand the benefits of tanking and said the league should worry more about affordability of games and its in-arena experiences moreso than competitive games.

"You know who cares the least about tanking, a parent who cant afford to bring their three kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player," Cuban wrote.

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Dallas drafted former franchise favorite Luka Dončić at No. 3 overall in 2018, but wouldn't have been in that lottery position had the Mavericks not finished 24-58 overall and 13th in the West the previous campaign. Dončić went on to lead Dallas to its third NBA Finals appearance in franchise history in 2024 when it lost to the Boston Celtics.

Now in his 12th season as commissioner, Silver says there's gray area when it comes to the subjectiveness of tanking and understands why teams try and disguise it. He mentioned the "conundrum" taking place with rampant tanking and not be able to differentiate between teams that are actually bad and ones simply manipulating performance to try and improve their draft position.

Silver said the league has even considered taking away draft picks for blatant tanking among "every possible remedy" this season.

"In the old days, it was just sort of an understanding among partners in terms of behavior," Silver said during All-Star Weekend. "I think what we're seeing is modern analytics where it's so clear that the incentives are misaligned. ... Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we've seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view. Which was what led to those fines, and not just those fines but to my statement that we're going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams' behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice."

The Mavericks are currently one of seven teams with 19 or fewer wins this season with 24 or so games left to play for each. Only three finished with that number or fewer last fall.

To Cuban's point, Silver acknowledged the league's diehard fans and said he hopes to not lose sight "of the people who support this league day in and day out." The league reprimanded Indiana and Utah last week for "overt" tanking after certain high-profile players were held out of recent action.