If you’ve been hearing about the Dallas Mavericks, then you’ve definitely heard of their $750 000 fine issued by the NBA. So what’s the gist of the story, and why are they getting fined such a heavy amount? Come with us as we break down what truly happened for the Dallas Mavericks to get fined.
Who are the Dallas Mavericks?
Before we get into the current drama between the Dallas Mavericks and the NBA, we first need to know who the Dallas Mavericks are, especially if you’ll be looking into the NCAAB picks.
The Dallas Mavericks, also known as the Mavs, are an American professional basketball team from Dallas that competes in the NBA. Established in 1980, they are part of the Western Conference’s Southwest Division and play most, if not all, of their home games at the American Airlines Center. Their team colors include royal blue, navy blue, silver, and black.
What’s truly going on?
The Dallas Mavericks have recently come under fire by the NBA after they deliberately rested or benched several key players during their game against the Chicago Bulls. Key players include Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Christian Wood, and a few other key players who all played a vital role in the team winning the game. In fact, the Mavs’ star player, Luka Doncic, only played for the first quarter of the game, leading the NBA to believe that the Mavs were indeed trying to lose. So what policy did the Mavericks violate, and what is the purpose of this policy?
The Dallas Mavericks violated the resting policy, which was recently updated for the 2020–21 season of NBA games. The policy prohibits teams from resting healthy players in any high-profile or nationally televised or streamed game. In fact, teams that did this would be fined a whopping $100,000.
The policy came into effect in 2017 after teams were found to be utilizing load management to either win or lose their games. The policy went on to state that healthy players can only be benched during home game broadcasts, which would only be televised or streamed locally. If any team wants to rest a healthy player, they are meant to notify the NBA offices 48 hours prior to the game, which many teams have done in the past for multiple reasons.
In a public statement, the NBA stated that the Dallas Mavericks had violated the league’s resting policy. They had also demonstrated through public statements and actions that they had deliberately done so with the intention to lose the game. This was done to improve their chances of keeping their first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft.
The players who played in the game were playing to win, but by not putting key players on the court, the team jeopardized their chances of winning.
Although the players who were benched had good reason, the league still felt as though the Dallas Mavericks were simply trying to maintain their position in the NBA draft. The Dallas Mavericks had benched Irving, who was still trying to recover from his right foot injury, and Maxi Kleber, who was also recovering from a right hamstring injury. Players such as Christian Wood and Josh Green were simply placed on rest as the team wrestled with the Chicago Bulls to win a spot in the play-in.
Unfortunately, with the loss against the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks find themselves unable to get into the postseason. The loss had been dubbed a failure by fans and the league as a whole. Officials have also said that the Dallas Mavericks’ decision to bench key players undermined the integrity of the sport.
The Dallas Mavericks have been silent on the issue, but it has been stated by head coach Jason Kidd that the decision to rest key players came directly from the top.
Almost everyone is looking forward to the 2023 edition of the NBA draft, as many want to see which team will take highly-rated Victor Wembanyama.
This article was published by Petra Maya
