Mavs' Mark Cuban Exchanges Twitter Barbs with Sen. Ted Cruz over NBA Ratings

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Republican junior United States Senator Ted Cruz got into a Twitter fight stemming from the politician's remarks about his opinion that the league's social justice messaging has caused its low NBA Finals ratings.

Cruz initially re-tweeted an article from Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity's website regarding NBA Finals viewer numbers, which hit an all-time low of 5.9 million for Game 3 last Sunday, per Sports Media Watch.

He then commented on the piece and provided a hashtag (#GetWokeGoBroke) implying that he felt the NBA's social justice movement played a part:

Cuban fired back at Cruz, who represents Texas in the Senate.

Texas is home to three NBA teams in the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Cuban's Mavs, and the owner accused Cruz of cheering for the league (and by association, the Texan teams and its employees) to fail.

Cruz, a self-proclaimed Rockets fan, then specified his perceived issues with the NBA regarding the league's social justice messaging:

Cuban then questioned how Cruz would know about the NBA's in-game messaging when he said he hasn't watched a game this year while also criticizing Cruz's characterization of what the league is trying to convey:

Cruz then switched topics and referenced the October 2019 controversy regarding the league's response to Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweets in support of pro-democracy Hong Kong protestors against the Chinese government.

Cuban gave the last word in the six-tweet back-and-forth, referencing actions he and the league have taken to fight for social justice and grow the economy as opposed to making "Twitter proclamations."

Cuban has held a majority stake in the Mavs since Jan. 4, 2000. Cruz, a 2016 Republican Presidential candidate, was voted into the Senate in 2013.