Let’s face it. The National Basketball Association (NBA) had no choice but to step in following the Mavericks’ loss to the Bulls the other day. It wasn’t simply that they absorbed the setback that formally knocked them out of contention for a play-in berth. It was how they did so — by choosing to rest five key players and letting top dog Luka Doncic play only the first 12 minutes and 35 seconds of the encounter. And, as if the eye test wasn’t enough, head coach Jason Kidd found reason to admit before and after the set-to that the blue and black “step[ped] back” to secure the 10th-best odds in the upcoming draft lottery. The development allowed them to keep a first-round protected pick that would have otherwise been sent to the Knicks as part of the trade they made to acquire Kristaps Porzingis in 2019.
During the pre- and post-contest pressers, Kidd made sure to point the finger at Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison for the “organizational decision” to sit rotation regulars in a winnable outing against the Bulls, who had leading scorers DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine in the sidelines. Never mind that they still had a mathematical chance of taking the 10th seed in the Western Conference and qualifying for the play-in tournament. The bench tactician walked the tightrope between accepting the inevitability of the outcome and yet underscoring that “the guys playing are gonna go out and try to play to win. You gotta be pros. You can’t cheat the game.”
The problem, of course, is that the Mavericks already compromised the uprightness of the proceedings by ensuring a negative outcome beforehand. Even though they were ahead by as much as 12 in the second half and stayed ahead until midway through the fourth quarter, all and sundry knew they had no intention of winning. After all, they played benchwarmers who — surprise, surprise — then coughed up the lead while keeping the scores close. And, for the coup de grace, they made sure to take poor game-tying attempts in the dying seconds of the so-called match. The two tries were so bad that one was an offline airball while the other was a corner three (not coincidentally the easiest shot from beyond the arc) that hit the edge of the backboard.
What Kidd sought to prove with his statements, only he can tell. Perhaps his hemming and hawing before members of the media was his way of registering his protest. “With this decision, this may be a step back,” he said, “but, hopefully, it leads to going forward.” In any case, his overt admission does not help their cause as the NBA, in the words of spokesman Mike Bass, launched a probe on “the facts and circumstances surrounding the Dallas Mavericks’ roster decisions and game conduct with respect to last night’s Chicago Bulls-Mavericks game, including the motivations behind those actions.”
Considering that load management is in and of itself frowned upon, the front office isn’t likely to let pass its use to further interests inimical to the integrity of the competition. Whether that leads to another hefty fine for Cuban (who had to cough up $600,000 in 2018 for openly admitting that the Mavericks were tanking) remains to be seen. That said, there can be no disputing the contention that they could have gone about their business better. Make that much, much better. It seems they haven’t learned — or don’t want to learn — from their past experience, and they’re about to pay the price in more ways than one.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
