The Dallas Mavericks were in live action against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday when the NBA officially announced plans to suspend the 2019-20 NBA season indefinitely after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for COVID-19.
MORE: NBA suspends 2019-20 season | Jazz release official statement
The contest was completed between the Mavericks and Nuggets, with Dallas coming away with a 113-97 win in the last NBA game played until further notice.
Following the game, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban addressed the media with his thoughts on the matter.
"I was just stunned," Cuban stated. "This is something out of a movie. And you don’t expect it to happen in real life. But that’s the randomness of the world we live in. It’s stunning, but we are where we are. And we have to be smart in how we respond."
With the game being nationally televised, Cuban's reaction to the breaking news was seen on tape and it certainly backed his statements.
“This is people’s lives at stake. This isn’t about basketball. This isn’t about the Mavericks. This is a global pandemic where people’s lives are at stake. I’m a lot more worried about my kids and my mom who’s 82 years old and telling her to stay in the house than I am about when we play our next game.”
The NBA was already discussing alternative options on how to handle the situation surrounding this virus, but Cuban agreed with the NBA's decision.
As for what's next for the NBA, the Mavericks owner isn't certain.
“This is not a situation where you try to sound or act important. The NBA has hired people with expertise in those areas and they’re working with people from the government and other people with expertise. We have to defer to them and that’s exactly what we’ll do. ...
“We told (the players) to be very vigilant, that this is not a situation where the season has ended. We expect you to stay in Dallas. Bringing people in from out of town because you have downtime? No. That’s not going to work. You have to be accountable to the people you’re dealing with for your own personal safety and honestly, for everybody else. This is not a vacation. This is effectively self-quarantining everybody because it’s our responsibility to be vigilant. And the players are in a unique position because wherever they are, people want to come up to them.”
Cuban also addressed one of the lingering questions – how will arena employees be paid?
He stated that he has already begun the process of trying to help workers at American Airlines Center who will lose paychecks with the loss of games and that he may ask for volunteer work in the community while paying their salaries.
Lastly, in addressing the future of the league's schedule.
“We have a lot of flexibility. I don’t want to speak for Adam (Silver, NBA commissioner) or the NBA. But in terms of the basketball side of this, we have a lot of flexibility because there’s nothing that happens after June 12, when we typically end our season. It’s more important for us to get it right.”
You can watch the full press conference via the Dallas Mavericks official Twitter account below.
🎥: Full post game availability with @mcuban. pic.twitter.com/6MOXq74HY9
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) March 12, 2020