Mark Cuban Sides With David Stern in Spurs Controversy

Many disagreed with the NBA’s decision to come down hard—to the tune of $250,000—on the San Antonio Spurs for resting four of their players during a nationally televised performance earlier this week. Not Mark Cuban, though. The opinionated Mavs owner believes the fine was, well, just fine, the Star-Telegram reports: “It’s not very often that Mark Cuban is on the same page with NBA commissioner David Stern. But the Dallas Mavericks owner said Stern did the right thing Friday in fining the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 for not bringing Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green to Thursday’s nationally televised game in Miami against the Heat. Cuban said where the Spurs went wrong is not bringing their marquee players to a game that was shown on TNT. If the Spurs had done the same thing in a game not played on national TV, Cuban said they likely would not have been issued a fine. ‘Everybody who planned to watch San Antonio vs. Miami on TNT, we’ve got disappointed customers all over the place,’ Cuban said before Saturday’s Mavericks home game against Detroit. ‘When I say our biggest customer, TV is our biggest customer. So I’m not saying San Antonio did the wrong thing. I’m just saying I understand exactly why the league did what they did.’ From where Cuban’s sitting, this was purely a follow-the-money situation. TV contracts pay the bills for the owners and players, and what the Spurs did Thursday was turn their backs on the very same folks who are paying the bills in the NBA. ‘I tried to find every angle not to [side with Stern], but I do know who pays our bills,’ Cuban said. ‘That is the driver for all things financial in sports — period, end of story. And when you [mess] with the money train you get [fined].'”