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Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, is fed up with the risks and sacrifices the Olympic Committee and FIBA demand of players and proposes the NBA have its own World Cup which will provide benefits for players and teams and not for the Olympics committee and FIBA profiteers, who Cuban thinks “Would make Tony Soprano look like a saint.”
Cuban’s comments on ESPN were prompted by an injury suffered by Indiana Pacer’s forward Paul George during Team USA’s showcase in Las Vegas in preparation for the FIBA World Cup. The FIBA allows players to refrain from participating if invited only if there is an injury, and given that provision, Cuban accuses FIBA of “playing NBA.” What followed was a vent against the International Olympic Committee, “The IOC is an organization that is rife with corruption, to the point where a member was caught trying to fix an Olympic event in Salt Lake.
He has suggested that the NBA have its own World Cup, to avoid forcing teams to lend players to the IOC for profit, while the teams to take on the undue financial risk themselves.
“It is just the epitome of stupidity that we would allow ourselves to be used so that corporations can make tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars … For some sports, the Olympics are very, very important. For basketball, it’s meaningless.”
In addition to owning the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban’s other properties include Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theaters. He is also chairman of HDTV cable network AXS TV. Mark Cuban appears on the CNBC program “Shark Tank” as one of the investors. Cuban grew up in a Jewish working class family in Pittsburgh. Mark’s grandfather changed the family name from Chabenisky to Cuban at Ellis Island when he emigrated from Russia.
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