The NBA has shifted gears as the postseason knocks on its doors. Many teams have secured playoff berths and many have missed out. The Dallas Mavericks, a team that went on to play in the Western Conference Finals last season, have raised many eyebrows after failing to make it to the play-in tournament. The situation has made many question the Dallas side’s motives and the NBA has even launched an investigation on the team, as per reports. Hence, a former NBA star decided to give his two cents on the current situation in the NBA with an uncomfortable analogy.

His opinion on the league’s situation came straight from his heart as he wasn’t really excited with many of the teams’ poor practices. It reignited a discussion that has taken place in the NBA community numerous times over the past years.

Former NBA star rips into poor practices by NBA teams

On Friday, the Dallas Mavericks suffered a defeat against the Chicago Bulls, effectively extinguishing their hopes for a playoff berth. The team’s performance was impacted by the limiting minutes of their superstar player Luka Doncic and not having Kyrie Irving in the lineup.

Doncic played a mere 13 minutes in the first quarter, which was claimed to be an organizational “decision” by the head coach, Jason Kidd. All these were clear signs that the team wasn’t that keen on winning, as their playoff hopes seemed grim before the game.

It reignited the discussion on the poor practice of tanking a.k.a deliberately sitting out star players to lose a game for favorable picks in the following season’s draft. Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas joined the conversation as he had harsh words for teams who keep on continuing the practice of tanking.

In a recent episode on Gill’s Arena, the former Golden State Warriors star lashed out at teams who practice the corrupt system.

“… there’s too much training going into this sport? for tanking to be okay,” said Arenas. He added, ” that[tanking] should be considered like gambling right?… you’re purposely doing this s**t for a reward. What is the difference between motherf***er paying me $20,000 and I miss a couple of shots. I’m purposely doing it for a reward. Same s**t.”

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Arenas was of the opinion that the players are working too hard to play to lose at the end of the season. Although the concept of favoring teams at the bottom of the table was made to level the playing field, many believe that over the years, this has cultivated a losing mindset among players of the league. Even Luka Doncic has recently expressed his displeasure with the practice by the Mavericks in six simple words.

Luka Doncic on the “organization” limiting his minutes against the Chicago Bulls

“I didn’t like it. That’s it,” said Doncic, as per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Doncic comes from a European basketball league, where such a culture has always been frowned upon. Hence, his words shouldn’t be a surprise to many. Moreover, the team had genuine hopes of going all the way after the blockbuster trades before the trade deadline day. So for them to resort to such tactics by the end of the season would be completely unexpected.

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