The Mavericks will visit President Barack Obama next Monday "prior to a two-game road trip at Detroit and Boston," according to Jeff Caplan of ESPN DALLAS. Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban said that he was "appalled when the NBA released the condensed, 66-game schedule after the lockout and a trip to play the Washington Wizards was not on the schedule." Cuban said that he "didn't bother to call the league to complain, but rather asked team CEO Terdema Ussery to call the White House." Cuban: "There's no point in calling them. It's bull---- by the league not to schedule it. I figured I'd do it myself since the league wasn't smart enough to figure it out. How can you be that stupid?" The Mavericks had a preseason game at the Wizards and its "traditional lone stop in Washington during the regular season wiped out by the lockout." The Mavericks will play the Hornets at home on Saturday and "fly to Washington D.C. on Sunday for their Monday visit to the White House." Then the team will "head to Detroit for a game against the Pistons on Tuesday and then to Boston to face the Celtics on Wednesday" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 1/2). Cuban said, "Either the league was stupid, dumb-asses or something worse for not putting that together. That's just ridiculous. All you got to do is, when you're putting in the scheduling software, say 'Dallas at Washington, yes.' It's not that hard. It's only happened every single year. Even with the lockout schedule, it's not that hard" (DALLASNEWS.com, 1/2).
NBA RESPONSE: The NBA today issued a statement to THE DAILY concerning the situation that read, "Our jurisdiction doesn't extend to scheduling the president, and scheduling the Mavericks against the Wizards would have been no guarantee that the president would have been in town and available. We learned that he would be available on January 9, and began working with the Mavericks to accommodate that availability and the Mavericks' schedule. Fortunately, we were able to make it work" (THE DAILY).
