NBA Says It Opened Investigation Into Mavericks’ Handling of Bulls Game

Dallas sat several key players in the game.

The NBA announced it is investigating the Mavericks after Dallas sat many of its top players in Friday night’s game vs. the Bulls.

“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 spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

Dallas sat several key players vs. Chicago, including Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber and Christian Wood. Additionally, star Luka Dončić only played for 12 minutes at the beginning of the game after Dallas announced he would just play in the first quarter, then sit for the rest of the year.

The Mavericks are a game back of the Thunder for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference but currently hold the 10th worst record in the league. The loss eliminated the team from the postseason.

As per the conditions of the 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade with the Knicks, Dallas owns their first round pick this year if it falls into the top ten, but must send it to New York if it falls at No. 11 or worse.

With the team seemingly out of contention for a legitimate playoff run even before it was officially eliminated, Dallas appears to be angling to get that first round pick back for this year. A loss to the Spurs on Sunday would cement them with a bottom-10 record in the league, while a win still puts that in doubt.