After it was reported that the Dallas Mavericks had not played the national anthem this season, NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass issued a statement on Wednesday reaffirming the league’s policy.
“With NBA teams now in process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy.”
In response to the mandate, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told the New York Times, “We are good with it.”
In a statement to The Athletic, Cuban confirmed that the national anthem will be played before the Mavericks take on Atlanta on Wednesday night. He added the team does “respect the passion people have for the anthem and our country,” but “we also hear the voices of those who do not feel the anthem represents them.”
The owner stressed how those individuals need to be “respected and heard, because they have not been heard.”
“The hope is that those who feel passionate about the anthem being played will be just as passionate in listening to those who do not feel it represents them.”
Cuban made the decision to not play the national anthem prior to Mavericks games before the start of the NBA season, according to The Athletic. It had not been played before the franchise’s 13 preseason and regular-season home games.
Sources close to Cuban told The Athletic‘s Shams Charania that the team reportedly stopped playing the national anthem before games “because many feel anthem doesn’t represent them.”
The Mavericks did not publicize the move and some team employees told The Athletic that they discovered the change on their own.
However, an NBA spokesperson told The Athletic on Tuesday that “under the unique circumstances of this season, teams are permitted to run their pregame operations as they see fit.”
The NBA requires players to stand during the anthem. However, the policy has not been enforced in recent years.
Many athletes on all levels of competition have chosen to kneel during the anthem as a form of protest against racial and social injustice and in support of Black Lives Matter.
