Mark Cuban denies Mavericks purposefully tanked to get back at Knicks: ‘Not a revenge guy’
NY Post
BOSTON — It wasn’t personal against the Knicks, according to Mark Cuban, just the business of building his NBA finalist.
By sitting their top players at the end of last season, the Mavericks increased their chances of both retaining their 2023 first-rounder and also keeping it away from the Knicks — who would’ve taken the pick as the final Kristaps Porzingis payment if it landed outside the top 10.
Asked if it felt like unintended revenge after the Knicks were caught tampering with Jalen Brunson, Cuban told The Post, “I’m not a revenge guy.”
“We never tanked anything,” the Mavericks owner said. “We just decided to play our younger players the last couple of games. But it’s [general manager] Nico Harrison’s and mine’s and [coach] Jason Kidd’s job to make the tough decisions. Nobody who decides to rebuild effectively likes it. When you play your young players, it’s not always fun. So we just felt it was time to go young.”
The NBA certainly didn’t view it as run-of-the-mill rebuilding, however, and fined the team $750,000.
The problem? The Mavericks still had an opportunity for the play-in tournament but sat Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, among others, for the final two games.
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