Mark Cuban is no stranger to criticizing officials and it cost him in the latest case of Cuban speaking out about officiating decisions. The Mavs’ outspoken owner is one of the most visible team executives around the NBA, and he’s never been shy about stating his opinion about what happens over the course of a game regarding his team and its players.
Last month, Cuban got particularly irked by the ending of the Mavs-Hawks game. With time winding down in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks were whistled for goaltending on a play that ended with a John Collins dunk. Upon review, they overturned the goal-tending call but called the basket good, and the Hawks subsequently got the victory.
Cuban confronted officials on more than one occasion in the final minutes and took to Twitter afterward to voice his displeasure. He later decided to officially protest the ending in hopes of the league granting a replay of the final play in question. But on Friday, the NBA announced that they were instead issuing Cuban a hefty fine and rejecting his protest.
NBA statement: A team owner’s effort to influence refereeing decisions during and after a game creates perception of an unfair competitive advantage and thereby undermines the integrity of the game. Demeaning league employees also creates an intimidating workplace environment. https://t.co/MnqfckjT4z
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 6, 2020
Collins finished with 35 points, 17 rebounds, and a pair of blocks in the Hawks’ win on February 22. Cuban had argued in his protest that the officials has misapplied the rules surrounding the goaltending call on the play in question, but in the league’s official release, they ruled that because Collins was in the act of shooting when the call was made, the basket should count.
It remains to be seen whether this is the last of it we’ll hear from Cuban. Half a million dollars is a lot of money to most of us, but the issue of money has never stopped Cuban from speaking his mind, and we seriously doubt it will moving forward.
