In the race for the first choices of the Draft and therefore for the signing of Frenchman Victor Wembanyama (who should be 1st), not all maneuvers are good. The Dallas Mavericks learned that the hard way. This Friday the North American Basketball League (NBA) fined the Dallas Mavericks 750,000 dollars (682,000 euros) for resting several major players on April 7 during one of their last games. regular season against Chicago.
The Mavericks lost 115-112 to the Bulls. While his team still had a chance to reach the Western Conference play-offs, coach Jason Kidd chose to do without most of the players in his major five. He left out Kyrie Irving (right foot injury recovery), Tim Hardaway Jr. (left ankle pain), Josh Green (rest), Maxi Kleber (hamstring injury recovery). right leg) and Christian Wood (rest). The star of the team Luka Doncic had only played the first 12 minutes of the match before remaining on the bench until the end of the match. Dallas finished 11th in the Western Conference with a record of 38 wins and 44 losses.
“They cheated with our championship and our supporters”
“The Mavericks violated the league’s player rest policy and demonstrated through actions and public statements a desire to lose the game in order to improve their chances of retaining their first-round draft pick.” advance Joe Dumars vice president of the NBA. The players who participated in the match were not playing to win. The Mavericks have damaged the integrity of our sport and his actions have disappointed our fans and our league. They cheated with our league and our supporters. »
This is not the first time that the Texas franchise has been pinned for this practice. Its owner Mark Cuban, was previously fined $600,000 in 2018 for admitting that the Mavericks were tanking, meaning losing on purpose in hopes of getting the best possible pick at the Draft.