NBA tanking may be traumatic but it works


The Dallas Mavericks have said they will not stoop to tanking but most fans would happily undergo pain in return for a little success

When I read that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will not allow his abysmal 3-13 basketball team to succumb to the darkness and tank for better odds in the draft lottery, I clutched my imaginary pearls in horror. No team is too good to tank. If the Lakers could do it for three seasons and the Celtics could let their aging championship core stroll up the interstate to Brooklyn, why are the Mavericks of all teams so snooty about it?

I understand that tanking a professional sports team is considered a social faux pas akin to manspreading on the subway or clipping your fingernails in the waiting room at the DMV. I even accept that some people think tanking is an old trend that the new generation of NBA executives see as quaint, like a 12-year-old watching a planking video.

Related: In the era of the NBA super-team, pinning your hopes on one star is deadly

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