Mark Cuban almost always has a different take on issues, any issue. Thoughtful and ingenious, he should be taken seriously on this.
Mark Cuban
@mcuban
Why the NBA should embrace tanking -
The NBA has kate [I have no fucking idea what "kate" means here.] been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way that way.
When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren’t. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans.
Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can’t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That’s what makes the experience special.
Fans know their team can’t win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team’s record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring.
To me, that is the best point of his tweet and it is telescopic. To bring "hope" into the foreground, what fans want when they pay money to go to a game is reason-based hope that their team will win the fucking game. You can have a special experience with someone for a lot less money. Hope for the future, near-term and long-term, is important in the midground and background. Fans need all three dimensions of "hope" as any Miami "Heat" fan can tell you. "Heat" fans get the single-game experience, they're team always has a reasonable chance to win a game. It is the two hopes out of the foreground that some "Heat" fans, I and a growing number, have given up on. It's (currently) 44-38 every year.
The one way to get closer to that is via the draft. And trades. And cap room. You have a better chance of improving via all 3 , when you tank.
We didn’t tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team.
The nba should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking.
You know who cares the least about tanking , a parent who cant afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player
Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are
10:04 AM · Feb 17, 2026
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