NBA Fines Dallas Mavericks $750,000 For Tanking

The NBA is fining the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 for “conduct detrimental to the league.” The decision comes after the league launched an investigation to determine whether or not the team violated NBA policy regarding resting players in a game with the Chicago Bulls on April 7.

“The Dallas Mavericks’ decision to restrict key players from fully participating in an elimination game last Friday against Chicago undermined the integrity of our sport,” NBA executive vice president, head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement. “The Mavericks’ actions failed our fans and our league.”

Dallas sat All-Star guard Kyrie Irving (right foot injury recovery), shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (left ankle soreness), small forward Josh Green (rest) and power forward/centers Maxi Kleber (right hamstring injury recovery) and Christian Wood (rest) against the Bulls. All-Star guard Luka Doncic only played the first 12 minutes and 35 seconds of the game.

Chicago won the game 115-112, eliminating Dallas from postseason contention. While the NBA maintains that

The league determined that sitting these players were directly tied to the Mavericks’ interests in keeping their first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. However, the NBA did not find that the players who participated in the game were not playing to win.

Comments from Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd likely helped spark the investigation into Dallas’ true motives. Before and after the game, he indicated that it was an “organizational decision to rest so many key players.

“It’s not so much waving the white flag,” Kidd said after the game. “It’s [that] decisions sometimes are hard in this business. We’re trying to build a championship team. With this decision, this is maybe a step back. But hopefully, it leads to going forward.”

Dallas isn’t the only team to openly tank games this season. The Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs all openly sat players to improve their odds in this summer’s NBA Draft Lottery.

The league came down so hard on the Mavericks rather than investigating other teams actively engaged in purposeful losing because Dallas — through Kidd — openly admitted it was tanking.