Issuing a statement Wednesday reiterating its longstanding league policy that all teams will play the national anthem, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said during an appearance on ESPN.

The jump that is organization has no problem playing the anthem.

Here's Cuban with more.

Yeah, there was never any final decision that had made that we would not play the anthem.

We have no problem playing the national anthem at all.

I stand for the national anthem.

My hand is always over my heart.

We've supported the National Flag Foundation and done work with them.

You know that isn't the issue at all.

That the real issue is, How do you How do you express the voices off those who feel the anthem doesn't represent them or cause causes them consternation?

Stephen A.

What kind of problem does the N.

B.

A have here?

I don't think it's that big of a problem.

I just think they don't look great on this particular day in regards to this issue.

And the reason why I say that is because the n ba has had a long standing tradition that they would stand for the national anthem.

That has been their position.

When we were debating it about college capital in the National Football League, we made we made it a point to highlight and illuminate the fact that while the NBA, major league Baseball and other sports leagues had mandated you stand for the national anthem in the National Football League, they didn't mandated.

They just strongly encouraged it.

And so because that was the reality of the situation that made us come to the defense of Colin Kaepernick even more because he clearly was not violating league policy.

And we saw that there was a segment of our population that was willing to turn this into an issue of patriotism.

Yet they didn't turn it into that.

When Marshawn Lynch and others would sit down for the national anthem, they made no noise about it whatsoever.

Eso they were cherry picking in that regard as it pertains to the NBA.

Let me get back to that.

What I would say the n B A with the N B A.

Looks bad.

Is this.

If it's your policy, it's your policy.

Then why wasn't it enforced from the moment that Mark Cuban didn't play the national anthem during a preseason game.

This excuse about how there were no fans in attendance and once fans returns.

Obviously, that's something that we're going to dio that doesn't hold water here.

Your policy is your policy.

And if you had that policy in place from the moment that Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks decide that they would not play the national anthem all right with the excuse that there were no fans in attendance or whatever excuse there Waas.

The NBA should have been all over it.

They were not.

Not only were they not on it for the preseason game, they weren't on it for, like 11 or 12 home games that the Dallas Mavericks have had this season.

You didn't say anything then, either, until it reached the public eye and it gained some steam, some traction.

And then all of a sudden, here comes the NBA with this statement yesterday.

So it was inconsistent.

It seemed to be catering to a particular segment of our populist, which the NBA has really been accused of doing, and so that becomes a bit problematic and it's always problematic when you say that you have a policy.

But then you pick and choose when to enforce it, as opposed to just simply enforcing it, making sure that it's that it's handled and leaving it at that.

But I think that's the only reason that it's an issue.

People are divided on this.

I heard folks talking yesterday about the issue of patriotism again, uh, not recognizing the fact that for a lot of black Americans out there, this is not old news for us, even back in the days.

You know, in post World War two, when patriotism was a huge thing and folks wanted to sit up there and have sports leagues and others really implement the playing of the national anthem into the seventies and beyond, you had the black press that elected toe differ toe lift, every voice and sing because the national anthem they felt was something that was not for black people based on the lyrics and based on how the country was treating black folks, particularly black military veterans, and how they were getting treated as well.

But we don't need to get into all of that, not on this show.

What I will tell you is that the the N.

B A again.

I think they dropped the ball.

But the only reason I say they dropped the ball is that you had a policy in place.

What the hell did you wait to enforce it for?

You should have enforced it from Day one, especially since mark humans on the record saying that he spoke to Adam Silver about it, etcetera.

You should have enforced it from day one, and then this would not have been the issue.

It is an issue now because the n B A allowed it to be an issue because they deviated from a policy they said they had firmly in place.

No refuge could save the hireling or slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.

Those air lyrics in the national anthem that we no longer sing talking about black folk who defected from the or or or, you know, switched allegiances, uh, to the British because they were slaves in this country that those air lyrics in the anthem I mean, people have not just black people, but people with social who are socially conscious may object to that.

Or maybe even they feel that as an American, they can feel and behave as they choose, so long as they're not hurting anybody else, Right?

I'll say this, Stephen A.

The what?

What troubles me about this is that Mark Cuban claims and I have no reason to doubt him here that he did this in consultation.

He consulted Adam Silver about this and then continued to not play the anthem.

Right.

And this has been going on for some time.

As you mentioned, Marshawn Lynch was sitting.

No one noticed it become an issue until they noticed Kaepernick was sitting.

Um, you bring up patriotism.

There is a difference between patriotism and nationalism.

Patriotism is loving your country, hopefully for how it behaves.

And nationalism is loving your country, no matter how it behaves.

And I think there's a big difference there, and we can agree to disagree about that.

That's America.

The flag itself represents, In my view, you're right to not have to stand for it.

If you so choose.

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