Mark Cuban says NBA should ’embrace tanking’

After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver declared last weekend that tanking was the worst in recent memory, Mark Cuban says he and the league office should “embrace it.”

The NBA recently fined the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers, who own a combined record of 33-78, $500,000 and $100,000, respectively, for healthy players, and Silver said last weekend that he was considering “every remedy possible” to fight the fine.

But Cuban, who admitted to tanking in the past, posted on X’s “Why the NBA Should Embrace” teams that aren’t doing their best for future gains.

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Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban watches the game between the Dallas Wings and the Indiana Fever during the first quarter at American Airlines Center. (Jérôme Miron/Imagn Images)

“The NBA was…misguided in thinking that fans wanted to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It was never like that,” Cuban began in a lengthy post on X.

“When I got into the NBA, they thought they were in the basketball business. That’s not the case. Their business is creating fan experiences. Few remember the score of the last game they saw or went to. They don’t remember the dunks or the shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, their friends, a date. That’s what makes the special experience.

“The fans know their team can’t win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fans (sic) want who care about their team’s record is hope. Hopefully they improve and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring. The only way to get closer is through the draft. And trades. And cap space. You have a better chance to improve through all 3, when you tank.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during a press conference after Luka Doncic signed a contract extension (Reuters/Borut Zivulovic)

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“We didn’t tank often. Only a few times in 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trading up to get Luka. [Doncic] and improve our team.

“The NBA should care more about the fan experience than tanking. They should care more about excluding fans from games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking, a parent who can’t afford to take their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their favorite player. Tanking is not the problem. Affordability and quality of game presentation is.”

With a stacked NBA draft class, it seems like more and more teams are competing for better chances at the No. 1 pick. And even though the lottery had good intentions in not guaranteeing the worst team the best pick, the luck of the drawing has led more and more teams who know they can’t compete for a championship to compete for what they hope will be their next chance to win one.

“If teams are manipulating their performance in order to obtain higher draft picks, even in the lottery, then the question arises…are they really the worst performing teams?” » Silver said during NBA All-Star Weekend. “It’s not clear to me, for example, that the 30th team is much worse than the 22nd team, especially if you have an incentive to perform poorly to get a better draft pick…

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a press conference during the Emirates NBA Cup Finals at T-Mobile Arena on December 16, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

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“The league is 80 years old. It’s time to take another look at the situation and see if this is an outdated way of doing things.”

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