Loudmouth NBA owner Mark Cuban told fans that his Dallas Mavericks don’t feel like Americans and so will no longer play the national anthem before games.
Cuban made his initial proclamation on Tuesday, but now a report claims that one reason for the decision is that he and his players don’t love the United State enough to bother with the song.
Cuban told ESPN that the team will no longer play the anthem ahead of its games and that the decision is not a temporary measure.
The Mavericks has not played the anthem during any of its pre-season games this year, and Cuban confirmed that the song would be excluded during the coming regular season, as well.
Initially, Cuban did not fully explain his decision. Now a report by The Athletic’s Shams Charania claims that Cuban has admitted that the song was ended because he and his team members say that the anthem doesn’t represent them.
“Source close to Mark Cuban says decision to not play Anthem before Mavs games isn’t because they don’t love U.S., but because many feel anthem doesn’t represent them, and they want to continue discussion of how to represent people from all communities when honoring U.S. at game,” Charania tweeted.
Source close to Mark Cuban says decision to not play Anthem before Mavs games isn’t because they don’t love U.S., but because many feel anthem doesn’t represent them, and they want to continue discussion of how to represent people from all communities when honoring U.S. at game.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2021
For years, Cuban has supported players kneeling during the anthem as a form of protest against the U.S.A.
With the decision, the Mavericks became the first professional sports team to dispense with the national anthem.
But Cuban’s anthem proclamation does not seem to have put an end to the controversy. Apparently, The NBA came down on Cuban quick and told him that he better start playing the anthem ASAP and that he does not have the authority to stop playing it.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please hover over that comment, click the ∨ icon, and mark it as spam. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.