Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was courtside with Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr watching their game against the Chicago Bulls.
The Mavericks have gotten into trouble due to them leaving out important players, who could have helped get them into the play-off contention. However by not playing those players, it gave the team a lesser chance of getting a good spot in this year’s draft.
This strategy has been called ‘tanking’ which is losing on purpose to improve their chances of drafting better players.
The NBA started an inquiry today to figure out why the Dallas Mavericks did what they did in their match against the Chicago Bulls last night. This includes their roster choices and how they played. NBA representative Mike Bass spoke about this on Saturday.
The Mavericks are hoping to get a top-10 pick in the draft so they can sign Victor Wembanyama, an outstanding French teenager. To improve their chances of getting this pick, five of their players – including Doncic and Irving – didn’t play in their last game because they were injured or had the game off.
Before the game, Coach Jason Kidd said that the owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison wanted players to take a rest.
After the game, Kidd said: “It’s not like we are giving up. It’s hard making decisions for a team when you want them to win championships. This decision might be a step back but hopefully it will lead us towards success.”
Anthony Edwards scored the highest with 33 points during the game, helping the Minnesota Timberwolves secure at least 9th place in the Western Conference after beating the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 151-131. Additionally, the Utah Jazz weren’t able to make it to the playoffs but they still won their home game against Denver Nuggets who already have secured 1st place in the Western Conference.
Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points, helping the Los Angeles Clippers win against Portland Trail Blazers with a final score of 136-125. This victory put the Clippers in 5th place, and now they have the same record as Golden State Warriors, who are the champions from last year. Sunday is the last day of regular season in NBA, and on that day the teams will battle to decide placing 7th through 10th spots – This spot called “Play-in”.
