Dallas Mavericks stop playing national anthem before games

The Mavericks haven’t played the national anthem ahead of any of their 13 preseason and regular-season games at the American Airlines Center this season, and Dallas will continue that trend moving forward, according to The Athletic.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed the news to The Athletic but declined to elaborate on his reasoning. The report states Cuban made the decision to stop playing the anthem.

Playing the national anthem before sporting events has been a hot-button issue in recent years, gaining traction as a method of peaceful protest when quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016. Kaepernick aimed to draw attention to police brutality and social injustice in America, and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane soon began sitting for the anthem, too.

“It’s something I plan to keep on doing until justice is being served,” Lane said at the time.

Kneeling or sitting during the anthem has gained traction in subsequent years and gained the ire of former President Donald Trump, who urged owners to fire any players who protested.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ’Get that son of a b—— off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!” Trump said at a rally in September 2017.

That prompted more than 200 players to demonstrate during the anthem the following Sunday. NFL players aren’t alone, either. Many NBA players protested during the anthem while in the Walt Disney World bubble last summer.

Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland Athletics knelt during the anthem shortly after Trump’s comments in 2017, becoming the first MLB player to join. Ahead of the 2020 WNBA season opener, the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm left the court during the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

While the NBA rulebook requires players to stand during the anthem, that rule hasn’t been enforced in recent season. Cuban told ESPN in July that he supported his players if they knelt during the anthem — “Hopefully, I’d join them,” Cuban added.

He now circumvented the debate by not playing the anthem at all before games. An NBA spokesperson told The Athletic that “under the unique circumstances of this season, teams are permitted to run their pregame operations as they see fit.”