Rumors

Charlie Villanueva on Mark Cuban: “He’s A1. He hanging out with us. He on the flights. He like, ‘Y’all want to do something? Let’s go. We out.’ Like, we—like, it almost felt a little weird— Like, I’m going to hang out with my boss? That’s a little—you know what I mean? That’s a little weird. But it was cool, man. He was A1, man. Took care of his players, and just how they did everything, man—just, you know, top-notch organization.”

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Q. Who's your biggest miss? Who did you miss on? Like what player do you wish you got? Mark Cuban: Oh, there's so many of them. Tyrese Maxey was a big miss for us recently. Greek Freak [Giannis Antetokounmpo] was probably the biggest.

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NBA Base: Mark Cuban admits hiring Nico Harrison was a mistake: Q: “Do you regret [hiring Nico Harrison]?” Mark Cuban: “Yeah… it was a mistake.” (Via @adam_talkshow)

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Pablo Torre: “What I need to point out here is that by April 4th, 2022, Aspiration did not have enough money to pay Kawhi Leonard. They'd already spent all of the money they got from Steve Balmer, actually. But that very same day, Los Angeles Clippers, David agreed to do something very interesting. This now according to the first document in your folder, which is what? David Samson: This is Aspiration's April statement from Silicon Valley Bank. Pablo Torre: And how much did the LA Clippers wire into Aspiration on April 4th, 2022? David Samson: $32,442,080. Pablo Torre: Now, maybe you guys also have a guess as to what exactly is happening here with the $32 million, but I think the best explanation actually comes from somebody else that I first encountered in person at this very conference back in the early days of Sloan. And this person happens to be team Balmer's number one defender. (Mark Cuban).

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Front Office Sports: NEW: Years ago, Mark Cuban made the same prize money offer that Mat Ishbia did to lure stars to the NBA's dunk and three-point contests. David Stern had told him it would be "tampering," Cuban tells FOS.

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Lamar Odom: Man this white man got it in his heart to get his point across. He needs to kick me in my shin. You know, Mark Cuban time has passed. I forgive you. But if it wasn’t for your cousin sitting right next to you right here, I was going to put him through the locker and wash the lockers with him. Yo, I was going to wash the locker room with him

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Mark Cuban: I made the point that “tanking” , IMO, is not as important an issue as affordability. I wanted to give some context. I think some in this discussion are underestimating the long term value, and importance of families changing from being committed to a team, to following players. When a family can afford to come to a game, they do. It’s a unique, bonding event, that creates incredible memories. When they come as a family, they not only become a fan of a team, and the players, they become a “Mavs family”. It’s this connection that makes sports different than every other business. It’s a connection that drives an emotional link, hopefully for decades. This is why the Mavs had $2 tickets for a while. It’s why David Stern put in place $10 tickets after the lockout in the 90s. It’s why every Mavs game had 4k tickets under $19. The math is the marginal revenue of an increased ticket price vs the incremental value of families committed as “Mavs families “. I gave up probably $15per ticket or $60k per game. $2.4m a year. That is a lot of money, until you compare it to what it costs in marketing, advertising and promotions to try to connect to all the families you priced out of games. And then add the cost of being able to watch games on streaming and legacy tv. Also not cheap.

Twitter

Mark Cuban: No player will play forever. But the pictures in homes of families together at a game, all in mavs gear, when the kids were in school. Then when they had kids. Then generations and extended families together, all connected by the Mavs. All in pictures around the house. What is possibly more valuable to an organization than that ? IMO, this made perfect financial sense as well. We live in an uncertain world. Every sport and league will have its ups and downs. Any sport, if it can sustain its connection to families, can survive whatever happens. If it becomes like any other business, maybe not.

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Zach: Even if the game is affordable, people don't want to see crappy basketball or their team purposely trying to lose. Mark Cuban: A team is only going to tank if they aren’t very good to begin with. The players that are on the court are going to play harder because they have the most to prove and want to earn a contract.

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MFFL: Tanking is only bad this year because the draft is stacked. Mark Cuban: Absolutely worse this year. But drafts will continue to be stacked in the top 3.

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Berkan MFFL: real also the Mavs tank two years ago is still funny, because it was TWO games, and even if they won that last game, they were still eliminated. Mark Cuban: I’ve paid more in tanking fines, $1.2m, than the rest of the nba combined lol

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Cole Phares: "Will be playing their hearts out" at the end of a tweet where he argues teams should not, in fact, play their hearts out for better draft picks. Mark Cuban: The young players will always play their hearts out. We had one game when we were tanking for Luka , it was close against the grizzlies. We are down 3. We have the last posssesion. Salah Mejri hits 3 to send it to OT. Mavs win. We end up with the 3rd worst record. Fall to 5. Have to give up a first to get up to 3 to get Luka. The guys will always play to win. They know that video lives forever.

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Chugs: So you tanked, did you lower ticket prices because the product would be worse? Or you take advantage in a tanking season of people who don't know better? Mark Cuban: For a while we had $2 tickets. But they got scalped. So we stopped. We always had at least 4k tickets for $19 or less.

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Mark Cuban: Why the NBA should embrace tanking - 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 aren’t. 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 one way to get closer to that is via the draft. And trades. And cap room. You have a better chance of improving via all 3 , when you tank. 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. The nba should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. 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 Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are

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