Mark Cuban swears he doesn’t “give a s*it” about the Los Angeles Clippers, while Steve Ballmer surely couldn’t care less about the Dallas Mavericks. When the billionaire owners were shown on the Kiss Cam at Staples Center Thursday night, then, it should be no surprise that Cuban was the one to pucker up first.
Friction between the Clippers and Mavericks reached a fever pitch this summer after DeAndre Jordan reneged on his verbal agreement with Rick Carlisle’s team and elected to stay in Southern California. The franchises have traded barbs through the media ever since, and Cuban has been the most frequent instigator of that meaningless and wholly unnecessary trash talk.
There’s been ample tension on the court throughout Thursday’s game, too. Shortly after the opposing owners were featured on the Staples Center JumboTron, Dirk Nowitzki retaliated to an incidental from Jordan with a borderline flagrant shooting foul. Though the teams never came to blows, officials granted technical fouls to Jordan, Blake Griffin and Raymond Felton after reviewing the play.
But we’re still wondering about the Kiss Cam. Why was Cuban so ready to blow his opposing owner a kiss? Maybe he was just begging the Clippers’ owner for mercy on the court? Makes sense. Despite a valiant effort from the ever short-handed Mavericks, they trail Los Angeles 51-43 at halftime.