DALLAS – UPDATE: The NBA issued a statement on Wednesday saying the league will require its teams to play the national anthem before games moving forward.
This comes after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed on Tuesday that he decided before the start of the regular season not to play the national anthem before home games.
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The league’s statement was issued by NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass. It read:
“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy.”
The Athletic initially reported the Mavericks had dropped playing the anthem prior to tipoff. The Mavs played their first 10 regular-season home games without fans but had fans for the first time during Monday’s 127-122 win over Minnesota.
Dallas is allowing 1,500 vaccinated essential workers to attend games for free.
Up until Tuesday, no one had publicly reported on Cuban’s decision and the long time Mavericks owner didn’t publicly elaborate on his decision, only saying that nobody had noticed.
The Athletic’s NBA Insider Shams Charania reported on Twitter Wednesday morning that a source close to Cuban said his decision was not because his players and staff “do not love the U.S., but because many feel (the) anthem doesn’t represent them, and they want to continue (a) discussion of how to represent people from all communities when honoring U.S. at game.”
The Mavericks issued a statement that said the organization would follow the league’s directive and resume playing the anthem starting with their home game against Atlanta on Wednesday.
Statement by Mark Cuban pic.twitter.com/OmtMNFUz1K
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) February 10, 2021
There are 107 international players from 41 countries in the NBA. That’s nearly a fourth of the players in the league that are from countries other than the United States.
Cuban was outspoken against critics of NBA players and coaches kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner” when the 2019-20 season resumed in the bubble in Florida last summer.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and assistant coach Becky Hammon stood during the national anthem in the bubble while players and other staff members kneeled.
Popovich, an Air Force veteran and strong voice for racial and social injustice issues, said at the time that “everybody has to make a personal decision.”
“The league’s been great about that,” Popovich said. “Everybody has the freedom to react any way they want. For whatever reasons I have, I reacted the way I wanted to.”
The pregame national anthem is a staple of American sports at both the professional and collegiate level but is far less commonplace at pro sporting events in other countries.
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