Cuban said he has tried to communicate and listen better regarding political and social issuesNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Mavericks Owner MARK CUBAN has seen the NBA rethink statistical analysis, the rule book and in-arena entertainment, and now he is "focused on influencing the world beyond professional sports," according to a Q&A with David Marchese of the N.Y. TIMES. On what the most important factors were, outside of safety, in getting the NBA back to playing this year, Cuban said, "There is no 'outside of safety.' That's the underpinning of everything. Without it, we would be playing in the home arenas." He added, "Everybody has come to the realization that while there's no absolute certainty, by using the best available resources -- which the NBA has but which individuals, whether it's me or a player, do not have -- we're effectively keeping players safer than they might be otherwise be at home." Below are excerpts from the Q&A, some of which have been edited for clarity and brevity:
Q: If playing again was only about safely, wouldn't you not play until there was a vaccine?
Cuban: I'm not saying there's no economics involved. If the economics rewarded us to stay home, we would probably stay home. But it's not just economics. There's also the patriotic side. I know that sounds cheesy, but we need something in this country to cheer for.
Q: How much should sports-team owners like yourself be worried about the risk of alienating their players if the players don't feel that political and social attitudes at the top of an organization reflect their own?
Cuban: What I've tried to do is communicate and listen better than I have in the past. I've learned a lot since George Floyd's death. That gets into a much bigger conversation about what I've tried to become personally.
Q: You mentioned the sexual-harassment issues the Mavericks dealt with. Your position publicly was that you weren't aware of what was going on. ... So what accounts for your not knowing about sexual harassment?
Cuban: I spent all my time on the basketball side. My only interaction on the business side was marketing and sales, and I had a CEO I inherited when I bought the team. At the beginning, I was definitely hands-on on the business side. But over those 15 years leading into 2018, if I was in the business office twice a year, that was a lot. So when I was made aware of some of the issues, I didn't address them in the right way. I didn't recognize the impact it had on the women in office.
Q: Have you taken steps to be more involved?
Cuban: Yeah, I talk to [Mavericks CEO CYNTHIA MARSHALL] all the time. I've got a much different relationship with her than I had with her predecessor. When I say that, I let her do her job. She' s a lot better at it. I don't have to be there a lot (N.Y. TIMES, 8/10).
