Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was caught on camera in real time having his reaction to finding out on his phone that the NBA had suspended its season after Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus just ahead of tip-off at Wednesday’s Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder contest.
He was as shocked as everyone else, and in a subsequent ESPN interview, he spoke about how all of this went beyond basketball. Then, he asked, “What about all the people who work here on an hourly basis? We’ll put a together program for them.”
After the Mavs’ win over the Denver Nuggets, he talked about that idea again:
This is pretty simple: Every other NBA owner should follow suit.
We forget that so much more than paying players million-dollar salaries goes into running a sports franchise. There are arena workers, from security to concession workers and beyond. With no games played for now, they’ll lose out on a huge source of income. Of course, this is a problem that goes beyond sports with workers who could face extended time without employment.
In this case, the hope is others will follow Cuban’s lead, and that of Charlotte Hornets forward Cody Zeller, who said he might pitch in as well:
Some others who agree:
