Earlier this year, the NBA and the players' union agreed to no longer test or penalize players regarding marijuana use. Someone tell that to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Cuban admitted that “No lie, I've traded guys because they smoke too much,” while appearing on Philadelphia 76ers guard Patrick Beverley's podcast, the Pat Bev Pod. For Cuban, the use of marijuana isn't the problem in and of itself. It's more a question of potency and frequency, and how that affects a team's culture.
“Everybody smokes right? It's not about that,” he went on. For the owner, the issue around the Mavericks starts when “you got one dude that's…you walk down the hall in the hotel and you know he's on that floor and there's no doubt about it.”
The always outspoken Cuban becomes leery that the habit will spread to younger players on the team. Specifically, to those players not used to the culture of the franchise, or the NBA in general. Cuban mentions the potency of some weed, and the frequency at which some players are smoking, as points of concern for him.
When a player's marijuana use pervades the team such that players are showing up to practice red-eyed? That's where the Shark Tank star draws the line. Cuban doesn't want Mavs players “going down that road.”
With the admission that some players were shipped off specifically because of excessive marijuana use, it's natural that some will begin to speculate: who might Cuban be referring to?
Keeping in mind (for no particular reason) that the Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets last season, Cuban's comments are certain to spark some interesting discussion in the coming days.