:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66793189/usa_today_13876373.0.jpg)
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been a polarizing figure during the coronavirus pandemic; not just in the NBA but on a nationwide scale. In an interview with The Athletic, the Mavericks owner stated that he isn’t allowing the re-opening of the Mavs practice facilities just yet. He wants coronavirus testing to be widely available to everyone before his team will get back to practice.
Cuban has been pretty harsh on COVID-19 guidelines throughout the country. While some states are re-opening businesses and trying to get things back to normal, other states are keeping stay-at-home restrictions in place. Texas is one of the many states allowing businesses to open and lifting quarantine restrictions. Cuban himself, per the report, is sending people to different businesses to see which are opening up and complying with state guidelines. In other words, Cuban has been Gung-Ho about making sure everyone is safe before we get back to basketball and living.
So Cuban won’t let the Mavericks back to practice in an effort to follow “White House protocol” — basically Cuban is acting as if his franchise is the White House. He did mention being optimistic about basketball returning in the next two months. We already got reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic that the NBA is looking at a 2-4 week timeline on a decision for a return. So after a month or so we’ll either be preparing for basketball or saying goodbye to it for the season.