Mavs Owner Mark Cuban Fined $600,000 For Tanking Comments

DALLAS (AP) — The NBA has fined outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $600,000 for comments about tanking during a podcast with Hall of Famer Julius Erving.

Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday the fine was for "public statements detrimental to the NBA." The podcast with Erving was posted Sunday, the day the All-Star game was played in Los Angeles.

Cuban said during the 30-minute interview that he met recently with some of his players and told them "losing is our best option." Cuban said he shared the club's summer plans with the players and "that we're not going to tank again." He said by the end of the season, it will be "a year and a half of tanking."

The billionaire owner told The Associated Press he "earned it" because he "got excited talking to Dr. J and said something I shouldn't have."

The fine came a day after Cuban's franchise was accused of having a hostile workplace for women in a Sports Illustrated report that detailed allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by former team president Terdema Ussery.
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