Mark Cuban may currently be the most outspoken owner in American sports.
How many of them do you see readily admitting they were ready to give up an entire year for the betterment of their franchise?
“We wanted to get Wes, he was a target for us all summer, and obviously DeAndre as well. But if we got shut out, we weren’t going to just try to fill the roster,” Cuban said during a recent radio interview with KTCK-AM 1310 in Dallas. “We had the discussion that if we couldn’t get a serious free agent, whether it was one of the guys still out there or some of the guys who already went, then it was time to take a step back.”
Cuban has said countless times that he believes tanking can be a legitimate tool for teams that don’t have a Championship-caliber roster already filled out.
What remains to be seen, however, is how fans will respond when their team is tanking and their owner is flat out declaring it. Mr. Cuban better hope that he can manage to avoid the tank at all costs, or else he may just feel the wrath from those Dallas fans who can’t handle his bluntness.
Watching a team that was assembled for the purpose of losing is one thing, but when the owner is openly admitting to taking his foot of the gas – that’s when you may check out as a fan for real.
Either way, though – even if a tank season does eventually come in Dallas and he does lose some fans in the process- something tells me Mark Cuban will be alright.