Mark Cuban to Match Mavs' $750K Fine for Resting Players, Donate Money to Charity

After receiving a $750,000 fine for resting players in the final games of the season, Dallas Mavericks governor Mark Cuban decided to double down.

Cuban told Dalton Briggs of DallasBasketball.com that he would match that fine with a donation to an unspecified charity, bringing the grand total up to $1.5 million.

Cuban—who was fined $600,000 for a similar situation in 2018—was accused of "conduct detrimental to the league."

The Mavericks went 38-44 in 2022-23 and finished in 11th in the Western Conference. They were two games outside of the play-in tournament at season's end. They decided to rest starters, notably Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić, against the Chicago Bulls on April 7, a game Chicago won 115-112.

Dallas was not mathematically eliminated when the game took place and was accused of tanking to improve their odds at a top-10 pick in the 2023 NBA Entry Draft. Should the pick fall out of the top 10, it would convey to the New York Knicks for the Kristaps Porziņģis trade from last year.

"The Dallas Mavericks' decision to restrict key players from fully participating in an elimination game last Friday against Chicago undermined the integrity of our sport," NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in an official statement. "The Mavericks' actions failed our fans and our league."

The Mavericks, one year after reaching the Western Conference Finals, failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2019.