Dhe Dallas Mavericks around top star Luka Doncic miss the NBA playoffs after beating the Chicago Bulls 112:115 – it was no longer a big surprise what became reality on Saturday night. However, the circumstances of the defeat at the end of a bizarre season sparked heated discussions, and the word “tanking” made the rounds. This was not hidden from the league either – that’s why trouble is now threatening.
“The organization has decided to change course,” admitted Dallas head coach Jason Kidd before the game. The 50-year-old explained the decision to rest five established players around international Maxi Kleber and co-star Kyrie Irving in this crucial encounter.
Repeat offender from Dallas
Only the Slovenian superstar Doncic got a few minutes of playing time – probably in order not to completely disappoint the audience in Dallas at the long before announced “I Feel Slovenia Night”.
The league now wants to find out the exact reasons for this decision and has initiated an investigation. If the allegation of distortion of competition through “tanking” – deliberately losing for a better position in the talent draft – is substantiated, severe penalties are threatened.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had already explicitly pointed out at the beginning of this season that the league would pay special attention to the issue and even brought into play forced relegation to the D-League, the development league.
Although the league boss subsequently described this scenario as unrealistic, it shows that the league wants to address the problem. In addition, the Texans would be “repeat offenders”; Mavs owner Mark Cuban had already been fined $600,000 in 2018 for making too obvious statements on a podcast.
Third guard on the floor
MVP candidate Doncic should have been at least surprised by the decision after he said on Tuesday: “As long as we have a chance, I will play.”
Understandable, since the spectacular transfer of Kyrie Irving at the latest, everything for the Texans was designed to win the second championship after Dirk Nowitzki’s triumph in 2011.
With the controversial Irving, however, the Mavericks only won nine of 25 games, slipped from fourth place in the Western Conference to eleventh place – and ultimately accepted missing the play-in tournament. In the final seconds, the third rather than the second guard was on the floor, four three-point attempts in a row were unsuccessful, the game was lost.
“In this business, decisions are sometimes difficult. We’re trying to build a championship team. This decision is perhaps a step backwards. But hopefully it will lead to a step forward,” Kidd commented on the about-face of the bosses around Cuban. An already risky poker game, the outcome of which could become even more uncertain due to the league investigation.
In any case, Coach Kidd already announced that “a lot of people won’t be coming back next year”. It remains to be seen which people he had in mind.