The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been under fire recently for its supposedly restrictive copyright policies, which may have taken down some clips on the Internet. An X (formerly Twitter) post chastising the IOC caught the attention of Elon Musk, who agreed that it was "not cool" for the governing body to copyright-strike the clips.
Mark Cuban seemed to agree with Musk, reminding people that money ultimately wins for the IOC and its stakeholders. The former Dallas Mavericks principal owner also belabored his belief that NBA players shouldn't participate in the Olympics.
Cuban's perspective on the issue
According to the blogs the billionaire shared in his tweet, he argued that the league is "subsidizing" the U.S. Olympic Committee and IOC by lending the players under contract with NBA teams to the for-profit entities and that they are risking stars getting injured during the Summer Games.
Cuban also noted how Dwyane Wade received unnecessary backlash in 2012 when the Miami Heat legend mused whether Olympic participants should be compensated.
It seems that he is again calling for USA Basketball to adopt the rule in Olympic soccer that limits the participants of the men's competition to players not older than 23 years old (except for three overage players). It's also possible that he wants the IOC to prevent professionals from taking part in the basketball competition altogether.
While Cuban agreed that allowing NBA players to join the 1992 Olympics was the "right thing to do" then, he believes the time to change that was 20 years ago. The 65-year-old businessman made it clear in an interview with Carmelo Anthony during the Tokyo Games in 2021 that he loves the Olympics and rooting for the Association's stars but is concerned with the short turnaround of the NBA season and the tournament.
Related: “That's not the Stock I play with every night in Utah" - Karl Malone grew worried witnessing John Stockton's struggles on the Dream Team
The two Mavericks in Paris
Maybe Cuban is thrilled that Dallas only has a couple of representatives in the 2024 Olympics. Franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic played for Slovenia in the qualifying tournament despite steering the Mavs to the previous NBA Finals while nursing injuries.
Unfortunately for Luka (and fortunately for the organization), Slovenia failed to secure a slot in Paris, giving him more time to rest and recover for the 2024-25 campaign.
Consequently, the only Mavs player suiting up in the current competition is Dwight Powell, one of the many NBA players representing Canada. Another Mav, Dante Exum, is on an Olympic roster. However, it's unclear if he can help Australia in the tournament after sustaining a dislocated finger during one of the squad's warm-up contests.
Related: "You can play just 10 minutes a game" - How Magic Johnson convinced Larry Bird and Michael Jordan to play in the 1992 Olympics
Most Popular
Comments / 0