Outspoken Dallas Maverick’s Owner Mark Cuban was fined $50,000 by the NBA for leaking details of a private board of governors meeting to a reporter, while the meeting was still going on.
“Board of governors” is the term the NBA uses for what once was called “owners.” NBA commissioner Adam Silver has banned the term “owner” from his league because it was deemed insensitive.
The information Cuban leaked to a reporter was about rules regarding coaches challenging calls.
According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Sacramento Kings Owner Vivek Ranadive was wondering why information being discussed in a private meeting was being reported by a scribe before the meeting was over.
MacMahon also reported Cuban immediately admitted to the leak in the meeting.
Cuban found it ironic that somebody leaked to a reporter a story about a leak.
“I appreciate the irony of your reporting on a fine that someone should, but won’t, get fined for leaking to you,” Cuban told ESPN.
Cuban, who is worth a reported $4.2 billion, has been fined frequently over the years, including $600,000 before last season for saying his team was purposely tanking the season to get a high draft pick.
“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but, like, I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night, and here we are, you know, we weren’t competing for the playoffs. I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option,’ ” Cuban said. “Adam (Silver) would hate hearing that.”
Cuban added about admitting his team was tanking: “Being transparent, I think that’s the key to being kind of a players’ owner and having stability.”
Silver didn’t appreciate Cuban’s transparency or decision to tank, and doled out the massive fine.
Along with getting fined a lot, something else Cuban has done quite a bit is criticize President Donald J. Trump.
After endorsing Hillary Clinton for President before the 2016 election, Cuban asked, “Is there any bigger jagoff in the world than Donald Trump?”
Cuban has mentioned he might run for president in 2020, but Trump advises against it.
“I know Mark Cuban well,” Trump tweeted. “He backed me big-time but I wasn’t interested in taking all of his calls. He’s not smart enough to run for president!
A couple of months before the 2016 election, Cuban predicted a stock market crash if Trump won.
“In the event Donald wins, I have no doubt in my mind the market tanks,” Cuban told Neil Cavuto on Fox Business. “If the polls look like there’s a decent chance that Donald could win, I’ll put a huge hedge on that’s over 100% of my equity positions… that protects me just in case he wins.”
The S&P 500 recently hit an all-time high.
After being given a front row seat by the Clinton campaign to a presidential debate, Cuban ripped Trump for saying he was “smart” for not paying federal income tax the last few years. Trump did tell CNN after the debate: “Of course I’ve paid federal taxes.”
“At some point you have to realizes you have to give back,” Cuban said. “And you have to realize that this is a country that’s been great to us. And you can’t just take, take, take, take, take, take.”
And Cuban clearly feels that generosity also applies to reporters.
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