The Mavericks’ sudden decision to rest five players before Friday night’s home loss to Chicago could result in sanctions against the franchise, the NBA confirmed Saturday.
The league also is looking into Dallas’ substitution patterns in the 115-112 defeat. Luka Doncic only played in the first quarter and the opening possession of the second period. Rookie Jaden Hardy did not play in the second half after scoring nine first-half points and sinking a midcourt shot at the halftime buzzer.
“The NBA commenced an investigation today into the facts and circumstances surrounding the Dallas Mavericks’ roster decisions and game conduct with respect to last night’s Chicago Bulls-Mavericks game, including the motivation behind those actions,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
According to the NBA’s anti-tanking policies under Article 13 of the league’s Constitution and Bylaws, an owner may not “attempt to lose or control the score of any game.”
Potential sanctions listed under Article 13 include loss of draft picks, a $1 million fine or in the most extreme circumstance, loss of franchise ownership (but the latter would require a vote to terminate from three-fourths of the league’s board of governors).
Resting players for load management and for the sake of playoff positioning is common practice for NBA teams, but the blatancy of Dallas’ actions caught the NBA’s attention. The circumstances behind the Mavericks’ actions also were difficult to ignore.
Dallas and Chicago entered the game tied for the NBA’s 10th-worst record, with two games left for both teams. The Mavericks’ 2023 first-round draft pick is in the balance because as part of Dallas’ 2019 acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis from New York, one of the two first-round picks it sent the Knicks is top-ten protected for 2023.
If the Mavericks draw a top-10 pick in the May 16 Draft Lottery, they will keep the pick. But if the pick falls outside the top 10 it will convey to New York. If the pick is not conveyed this year, the Knicks would get a top-ten protected pick in 2024. If not conveyed in 2024 or 2025 (also top-ten protected), New York would instead get Dallas’ 2025 second-round pick.
At 38-43, the Mavericks are one game worse than Chicago’s 39-42. The Mavericks host San Antonio in Sunday’s season finale and Chicago plays 17-win Detroit. If the Mavericks finish with the solo 10th-worst record, they would have 79.8% odds of drawing a top-ten pick in the lottery, but if Dallas and Chicago tie the teams would share nearly identical odds, but the NBA would conduct a random drawing to see which team would get 32 ping-pong balls (out of 1,000 in the lottery) and which team would get 31 balls.
Entering Friday’s game, Mavericks players still had aspirations, and a slim chance, of earning the Western Conference’s 10th and final seed in the 7th-through-10th-place postseason play-in tournament. Dallas would have needed to win its remaining two games and have 10th-place Oklahoma City lose to Memphis on Sunday.
Kidd called it an “organizational decision” to sit five players, including Kyrie Irving, and to dramatically reduce Doncic’s minutes. Did Kidd agree with the decision?
“Those are my bosses,” he said of team governor Mark Cuban and general manager Nico Harrison. “So, yes.”
Just two nights earlier the Mavericks went all-out to defeat Sacramento at home, a result that pulled them into a tie with Oklahoma City, though the Thunder owned the tie-breaker.
“Things change,” Kidd said when asked about the dramatic turnabout on Friday. “Understanding, as an organization they’ve made this decision, but we still have to be professionals, go out there and put our best foot forward, who we can play.”
Despite not having Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Maxi Kleber or Christian Wood, the Mavericks took as much as a 15-point first-half lead and led for much of the second half.
Chicago took its first lead of the second half, 100-98, with 5:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the outcome was in doubt until the final buzzer. Dallas pulled within 113-112 with 39 seconds left and in the final 10 seconds missed three 3-point attempts that would have tied the score.
So while the circumstances of who did or didn’t play and when are certainly open to scrutiny, all indications were that the Mavericks on the court played to win.
After the game, Kidd disagreed with the assertion that Friday’s roster decisions were the franchise’s way of waiving the white flag.
“It’s not so much waving the white flag,” he said. “It’s decisions sometimes are hard in this business. We’re trying to build a championship team. With this decision, this is maybe a step back. But hopefully it leads to going forward.”
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