Mark Cuban on the Lakers: 'The more screwed up they are, the happier I am'
The Los Angeles Lakers are in a state of severe disfunction this offseason.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, though, isn’t shedding a tear about it.
“The more screwed up they are, the happier I am,” Cuban said Wednesday after speaking at the Social Innovation Summit in Los Angeles, via ESPN.
Cuban, though, made it clear he wasn’t singling out the Lakers. He said he loves team owner Jeanie Buss.
And it’s not like the Mavericks aren’t struggling, either. Dallas missed the playoffs this year for the third straight season, the longest streak under Cuban’s leadership. It’s just that when another organization is struggling, it’s better for his.
“We all go through it,” Cuban said, via ESPN. “Every franchise goes through cycles, and when your down cycle hits you, it's never fun.”
This offseason for the Lakers has been tougher than most. First, general manager Magic Johnson abruptly stepped down from his post without informing Buss beforehand. Days later, after the team failed to reach the postseason for the sixth straight year, coach Luke Walton was fired — which kicked off a tumultuous coaching search.
While he may not feel for for the Lakers’ struggles, he does for Buss.
“I feel bad for Jeanie, personally, because she's a great person,” Cuban said, via ESPN. “I have no sympathy for the Lakers any more than they had sympathy for us.”
And the fact that Buss took over for her father, Jerry Buss, in the ownership role and has accomplished all that she has during her time at the helm in Los Angeles, Cuban said, is impressive in its own right.
“Jeanie is smart,” Cuban said. “I think, not to speak for Jeanie, but the hardest thing for Jeanie has been that it's family. And so there will be a time when my kids [take over] or not my kids, and I have to make a decision on how to integrate my family and who takes on what role, and that's not going to be easy.
“So, Jeanie had to balance all that, and that's a credit to her that she made her decisions. She stuck by them, and she made the tough calls. So Jeanie gets all the credit in the world. And unless you're there, it's really hard to understand. How do you balance the personal issues of a family with what you want to do for an organization? That's near impossible to make those decisions, and Jeanie had to deal with it, and she did the best she can, so she deserves a ton of credit.”
Cuban disagrees with Adam Silver on cause of ratings dip
Cuban was asked about NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s comments last month, in which Silver thought that both LeBron James leaving the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs hurt television ratings. He also advocated for games on the West Coast starting earlier than they do.
Cuban disagreed. If the league is going to tweak start times at all — whether in the regular season or in the playoffs — it needs to focus solely on the television audience. It has nothing to do with whether James or anyone else is on the court, he said, and fans will show up regardless of what time the game starts.
“Adam [Silver] said it clear as day — we make far more money off of television than we do from tickets,” Cuban said, via ESPN. “So, that's our biggest customer. And particularly, given the changes with streaming and everything and the demographic makeup of television, we've got to give that a lot of careful consideration. You want to optimize for television first, because even a regular-season game, there's some funky start times and people show up.”
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