Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner Mark Cuban has reportedly been fined $50,000 for admitting to leaking information from an NBA Board of Governors meeting according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. It is a violation of league rules to talk to outsiders to about business of the Board of Governors.
ESPN reports that Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was concerned that Board discussions involving coaching challenges were being reported in real time. Cuban also admitted to leaking the news, according to the ESPN report. The coaching challenge rule appears ready to go into effect too. The coaching challenges were run through the NBA Summer League for another test run, but will add uninteresting wrinkle next regular season.
When contacted by ESPN, Cuban offered a snarky remark. “I appreciate the irony of your (MacMahon’s) reporting on a fine that someone should, but won’t, get fined for leaking to you.”
This is not the first time that Cuban has been fined, in fact it is far from. He was asked to donate $10 million for the “handling” of sexual misconduct in the Mavs offices, the most recent and sadly overlooked infraction that required the NBA to conduct an investigation. Cuban was also dealt a $600,000 blow for essentially admitting that tanking was the best option for the Mavericks, something the league continues to dissuade. Cuban has also been accused of racial discrimination by a Mavericks employee.
Regardless, the outspoken billionaire will continue to march to the beat of his drum, for better or worse in the NBA.
