Don't get Mark Cuban wrong. The Dallas Mavericks owner isn't dancing on the Warriors' grave. But he's excited about the NBA's new level playing field.
Appearing Tuesday on a podcast hosted by former NFL quarterback Danny Kanell and Raja Bell, who played 12 seasons in the NBA, Cuban declared the league "wide open."
"I think this summer, it really benefited the NBA," Cuban said. "We went from the Warriors being a dynasty to being wide open."
It's true there are two sides to a dynasty. On one side, you have a standard-bearer doing things other franchises haven't done for years. If ever. On the other side, there are a couple dozen fan bases which are not having so much fun.
"The best way to judge that is our ticket sales," Cuban said. "Last year, there were two teams that never played to an empty seat; whatever team LeBron was on or playing, and the Warriors don't play to an empty seat anywhere in the league. Everybody else had to hustle to sell tickets. Now that's different."
By the way, it's not just also-rans who occasionally like to shuffle the deck. The Warriors' Draymond Green, shortly after signing his $100 million extension with Golden State, said, "You know, being the underdog, it's been a while since we've been the underdog. But it brings that underdog chip back, and I miss that chip. I'm pretty sure Steph missed that chip. And some of the stuff Klay been texting me this summer, I'm positive he misses the chip."
Cuban senses another change in the NBA going forward. It was only a year ago the Warriors were excited about starting five All-Stars in their lineup. Cuban doesn't foresee many super teams on the horizon.
"You're going to have two stars on a lot of different teams," he said. "Now the Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Bucks and Rockets might be a draw. So you're going to have more teams that are able to sell more tickets and that's going to benefit the entire NBA."
