The NBA will investigate the Mavericks’ decision to sit out key players in Friday night’s 115-112 loss to the Bulls that saw them eliminated the Western Conference play-in tournament.
“The NBA commenced an investigation today into the facts and circumstances surrounding the Dallas Mavericks’ roster decisions and game conduct with respect to last night’s Chicago Bulls-Mavericks game, including the motivations behind those actions,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said Saturday afternoon.
The team announced late on Friday morning that All-Star guard Kyrie Irving (right foot injury recovery), shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (left ankle soreness), small forward Josh Green (rest) and power forward/centers Maxi Kleber (right hamstring injury recovery) and Christian Wood (rest) would sit out against the Bulls.
Star guard Luka Doncic also only played the first 12 minutes or so before sitting out the rest of the game. It was “I Feel Slovenia” night at the AAC and reporters before the game were told that Doncic didn’t want to let any of his countrymen down that may have been there, yet he only played limited minutes.
“It’s not so much waving the white flag,” Kidd said after the game. “It’s [that] decisions sometimes are hard in this business. We’re trying to build a championship team. With this decision, this is maybe a step back. But hopefully it leads to going forward.”
Kidd also said that the team don’t plan on Doncic or any of the players who sat out to compete in Sunday’s season finale against the Spurs.
This marks the first time 43 years that all of the NBA’s Texas teams have missed the playoffs.
Read more: Jason Kidd Reveals Why Mavs Gave Up on Season Instead of Fighting for Play-In
