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A day after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed to ESPN that his team had stopped playing the national anthem before games, the NBA on Wednesday released a statement saying that would not be the case at the to come up.
“With NBA teams now welcoming fans to their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in accordance with long-standing league policy,” the league said in a statement.
Cuban told ESPN on Tuesday that he made the decision to stop playing the national anthem before home games after consulting with NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The Mavericks have not announced the policy change, but the national anthem has not been played until any of their 13 preseason and regular season games at the American Airlines Center this season.
Following the NBA announcement, the Mavericks announced that the anthem would be played ahead of their game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.
In a corresponding statement, Cuban said: “We respect and have always respected the passion of the people for the anthem and our country. But we also hear loudly the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. We believe that their voices should be respected and heard, because they were not.
“In the future, we hope that people will take the same passion they have for this issue and put the same energy into listening to those who feel differently from them. Only then can we move forward and have courageous conversations that move this country. move forward and find what unites us. “
The Mavericks didn’t have fans for their first 10 regular-season games before allowing 1,500 vaccinated essential workers to attend Monday’s game against Minnesota for free.
The NBA rulebook requires players to stand up during the national anthem, but Silver refused to enforce this rule, especially since kneeling during the anthem has become a popular way to protest against it. social injustice in recent years.
Cuba’s move had repercussions across the country, including a question posed to White House press secretary Jen Psaki during her daily briefing on Wednesday. The protests by athletes against social and racial injustice during the anthem became a flashpoint between then-President Donald Trump and various leagues under his administration.
Psaki said she had not spoken to President Joe Biden about the matter.
“I know he’s incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and everything it stands for,” Psaki said. “He would also say, of course, that a part of pride in our country means recognizing where we as a country have failed to live up to our highest ideals.”
The vast majority of NBA players and many coaches knelt during the national anthem when the NBA restarted last summer in Orlando, Florida, when the league incorporated messages supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and other causes of social justice in court design and other ways.
In a June interview on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Cuban expressed support for the kneeling players during the national anthem in protest.
“If they took a knee and they were respectful I would be proud of them. I hope I would join them,” said Cuban.
Cuban added as he hoped the league “would allow players to do what’s in their hearts.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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