Mark Cuban tried to reframe the tanking debate. NBA fans weren’t having it.
The Dallas Mavericks minority owner took to X and argued that the league should focus less on teams intentionally losing and more on the cost of attending games.
“The NBA should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking. You know who cares the least about tanking, a parent who can’t afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their favorite player,” Cuban wrote.
He followed that up with, “Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are.”
The message sounded pro-fan on the surface. Still, plenty of NBA fans felt it dodged the actual question.
@Leo_Glisic joked, “You kind of pulled a Pam Bondi there lol. ‘What are you going to do about tanking?’ ‘Well the DOW is at a record high; erm, I mean, the ticket prices at record highs and people can’t afford it!’”
You kind of pulled a Pam Bondi there lol
‘What are you going to do about tanking?’
‘Well the DOW is at a record high; erm, I mean, the ticket prices at record highs and people can’t afford it!’
— leoglisic.eth (@Leo_Glisic) February 17, 2026
@HamiltonDaveiss added, “Basketball peaked in the 80s and 90s because the players fought to win every single game; they had a certain honor in the way they played.”
@ad1220 kept it direct: “Even if the game is affordable, people don’t want to see crappy basketball or their team purposely trying to lose.”
Dallas currently sits 12th in the West at 19-35, which only fuels the skepticism. With the lottery creeping closer than the playoffs, NBA fans see the timing of Cuban’s comments as convenient.
“Fan affordability and engagement should be the real priority”: NBA fans target the league’s front office after Mark Cuban’s comments on tanking
Not everyone dismissed his stance. Some NBA fans agreed that pricing has become a bigger barrier than tanking.
@SalsaTech1 wrote, “Mark Cuban makes a strong point. Tanking gets headlines, but for most fans, the real issue is access. If families can’t afford tickets or a decent game experience, winning or losing matters little. Fan affordability and engagement should be the real priority.”
@ikepower_ added, “Cuban yelling like that courtside proves his point: Fans want vibes and affordability, not forced competitiveness. Tickets costing an arm and a leg is the real tanking for attendance.”
Others landed somewhere in between. @KelvinJ87984 posted, “He’s half right—tickets are insane and pricing out real fans is criminal. But tanking does kill the in-arena vibe. Nobody wants to pay to watch guys jog around and miss shots on purpose. NBA needs to solve BOTH.”
In the end, NBA fans aren’t choosing sides quietly. For some, tanking ruins the product. For others, the real problem starts at the ticket window.
