1. Nine
  2. Sport
  3. Basketball

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban vows to help employees as NBA faces $773 million problem

Mar 12th, 2020
Mar 12th, 2020

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has backed the NBA's decision to suspend the current season, and has pledged to find a solution to remunerate employees that will be without jobs during the league's coronavirus-imposed hiatus.

Cuban's Mavericks were in action against the Denver Nuggets at home when the NBA announced that the current season would be suspended indefinitely after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive to COVID-19.

Sitting courtside in his customary seat at Dallas' American Airlines Center, Cuban was stunned when the news came through about the league's hiatus, falling back into his chair.

Following his team's 113-97 win over the Denver Nuggets, Cuban explained how he will look to support employees who are unable to work during the NBA suspension.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has vowed to help his arena staff who are without jobs during the hiatus (Getty)

"When some of the things were coming up that we might not play games, this was yesterday, I reached out to the folks at the arena and our folks at the Mavs to find out what it would cost to financially support people who aren't going to be able to come to work," he said in a press conference.

"They get paid by the hour and this is their source of income and so we'll do some things there.

"We may ask them to go do some volunteer work in exchange, but we've already started the process of having a program in place.

"I don't have any details to give but it's certainly something that's important to me."

Cuban admitted that he was stunned by the entire COVID-19 situation, calling it "something out of a movie", but backed the NBA's decision to suspend the season.

The NBA was forced to suspend the season after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive to COVID-19 (Getty)

"Obviously this is much bigger than basketball. I'm concerned about (whether) my kids will have school or not," he said.

"I'm concerned about whether we're doing the right thing because this is obviously new territory. It's certainly a Black Swan event in my experiences and so basketball becomes secondary.

"In terms of basketball, nobody at the Dallas Mavericks is an expert on infectious diseases or their spread so this is not a situation where you fake it till you make it and try to sound or act important.

"The NBA has hired people with expertise in those areas and they're working with people from the government so we have to defer to them and that's exactly what we'll do.

"If one player, two players, whatever it is has (COVID-19), we have to act accordingly and I think the NBA has made the right decision.

Cuban backed NBA commissioner Adam Silver's decision to suspend the season until further notice (Getty)

"This is something out of a movie, you just don't expect it to happen in real life, but that's the randomness of the world we live in. This is people's lives at stake. This isn't about basketball and it's not about the Mavericks."

With there being no date on when the NBA will return to action, and whether every one of the remaining regular season games will be played, the ripple effects of COVID-19 on the league could be widespread.

In the event that all the remaining games aren't played, or the season is shortened, it will have a large impact on the league's cap for next season, a figure that is dependant on the Basketball-Related Income (BRI) of the previous season.

According to The Athletic, on average teams earn just south of $US2 million per home game, with the figure varying on the size of the market the team plays in.

With roughly nine home games left per team on the NBA's current season, the total losses could amount to over $US500 million ($AU773 million), that's not including the revenue brought in through post-season games.

The NBA's hiatus could impact a team's ability to sign potential free agents like Giannis Antetokounmpo (Getty)

The loss of revenue from the season's remaining games being either played in empty arenas or not played at all could potentially lead to a $US8 million drop in next year's NBA salary cap, per The Athletic.

With a lower salary cap, franchises could be hamstrung in terms of avenues to build their roster for next season.

The value of the players' max contracts, Mid-Level exceptions, rookie scale figures for draft picks and minimum contracts are all tied to the salary cap figure.

Contracts signed during this off-season on the cheap due to the lower cap figure for the 2020-21 season could prove to be bargains down the line as the cap returns to the norm from the 2021-22 season onward.

With teams hoarding cap space for what is shaping up to be a strong free agent class in the summer of 2021 with the likes of Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokonmpo all potentially able to be free agents, the impacts of the NBA's current hiatus could reverberate for years to come.

More Basketball News