The memo Adam Silver sent to all 30 NBA teams explaining the league's $600,000 fine of Mark Cuban for his comments about tanking has been obtained by Sam Amick of the USA Today.

“Over the past several seasons, discussions about so-called 'tanking' in the NBA have occurred with some frequency, both in the public discourse and within our league, and you as governors have taken steps to address the underlying incentive issues by adopting changes to our draft lottery system that will go into effect next year,” Silver wrote. “Throughout this period, we have been careful to distinguish between efforts teams may make to rebuild their rosters, including through personnel changes over the course of several seasons, and circumstances in which players or coaches on the floor take steps to lose games.  

“The former can be a legitimate strategy to construct a successful team within the confines of league rules; the latter — which we have not found and hope never to see in the NBA — has no place in our game. If we ever received evidence that players or coaches were attempting to lose or otherwise taking steps to cause any game to result otherwise than on its competitive merits, that conduct would be met with the swiftest and harshest response possible from the league office.”

Silver makes his concerns quite clear in the letter.

“The integrity of the competition on the playing court is the cornerstone of our league,” he wrote. “It is our pact with the fans and with each other, the fundamental reason we exist as a preeminent sporting organization, the very product that we sell. With everything else changing around us, it is the one thing in our league that can never change. We must do everything in our power to protect the actual and perceived integrity of the game.”

The NBA wants to avoid situations where coaches are either actively or passively tanking.

“We have no basis at this time to conclude that the Mavericks team is giving anything less than its best effort on the court, and Mark has assured us that this is not the case,” Silver concluded in the memo. “But even a suggestion that such conduct could be occurring is obviously damaging to our game, as it creates a perception of impropriety. It is also extraordinarily unfair to the players and coaches who are, in fact, competing at their highest possible level every night. You are therefore advised to avoid such statements, and to pass along this admonition to all other key personnel in your organizations. We will continue to monitor closely the play of all teams during the remainder of the season.”

Mark Cuban has canceled his scheduled appearance at SXSW in Austin. Cuban was scheduled to be a featured speaker on March 10th.

Cuban's cancellation follows a $600,000 fine for his comments about tanking as well as a report from Sports Illustrated detailing sexual harassment allegations within the Mavericks.

Cuban said in an email Tuesday that he cancelled the speech before news of the Mavs scandal. 

Cuban said organizers were unable to schedule a moderator for the featured speech.

Dirk Nowitzki disagrees with the strategy laid out by Mark Cuban for the Mavericks to tank the remainder of the season.

"You don't really want a culture here that's just giving up and quitting and not playing hard," Nowitzki said after Monday's win by the Mavericks over the Pacers. "I think it just sets the wrong tone for the future.

"I think it's important for our young guys to learn how to compete and to compete all the time, play hard. You play your minutes hard. That's the only way to get better. That's the only way to play in this league, and whatever happens after the season, we'll just go from there. But for now, you play your minutes hard and you play to win."

The win was the first one by the Mavericks since Cuban received a $600,000 fine for revealing that he told his team that tanking was the best course for the franchise.

"You don't want to have an acceptance of losing," Harrison Barnes told ESPN. "Obviously, the quotes about tanking and all that type of stuff, you can't avoid that. We've been getting asked about that since they were said, but at the end of the day as professionals, as players, you have to go out there and you have to play to win.

"Any time you don't play to win or you're just kind of going through the motions, that can become contagious. That can become a habit, and that can become your culture. 'Oh, it's OK for us to do this. Oh, it's OK for us to not give full effort.' Then next season rolls around, and you can't flip that switch. It's still that malaise that you had from the year before."

The Dallas Mavericks will sign Scotty Hopson to a 10-day contract.

Hopson played in two games during the 13-14 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Hopson is averaging 11.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 20.9 minutes per game this season for Galatasaray. 

Mark Cuban has been fined $600,000 for public statements detrimental to the NBA, it was announced today by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

Cuban’s comments, which concerned his perspective on the team’s competitive success this season, were made during a podcast that posted on Feb. 18.

Cuban revealed that he told his players that losing was the Mavericks' best option.

Terdema Ussery, former president and CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, has been accused of multiple incidents of inappropriate behavior toward female employees during his 18-year tenure with the franchise.

Ussery was allowed to continue to work for the Mavericks despite numerous complaints to their human resources department.

The Mavericks issued a statement that said they had launched an investigation into allegations of "various acts of inappropriate conduct toward women over a period of years" by a former officer of the organization. The team said the former employee in question left the club almost three years ago and that the organization was only made aware of the allegations in the past few days. It did not name the employee.

"The Mavericks organization takes these allegations extremely seriously," the team said in the statement. "Yesterday we notified the league office and immediately hired outside counsel to conduct a thorough and independent investigation."

“It was a real life Animal House,” says one former organization employee who left recently after spending roughly five years with the Mavs. “And I only say ‘was’ because I’m not there anymore. I’m sure it’s still going on.”

Interviews with more than a dozen former and current Mavericks employees in different departments, conducted during a months-long investigation depict a picture of a corporate culture filled with misogyny and predatory sexual behavior. 

While sources referred to the Mavericks office as a “locker room culture,” the team’s actual locker room was a refuge. Says one female former senior staffer: “I dealt with players all the time. I had hundreds of interactions with players and never once had an issue…they always knew how to treat people. Then I'd go to the office and it was this zoo, this complete shitshow. My anxiety would go down dealing with players; it would go up when I got to my desk.”

Earl K. Sneed, the team reporter for Mavericks.com, was accused in 2014 of hitting a female colleague with whom he had a relationship, just two years after he had pleaded guilty to assaulting a girlfriend.

The report says that employees became frustrated by the inaction of Mavericks human resources head Buddy Pittman, who has since been fired.

Mark Cuban has not been accused of any sexual harassment himself but he's also known to be a heavily involved owner in all aspects of his franchise.

“Trust me, Mark knows everything that goes on,” says one longtime former Mavericks employee. “Of course Mark knew [about the instances of harassment and assault]. Everyone knew.”

“This is all new to me,” Cuban told Sports Illustrated on Monday. “The only awareness I have is because I heard you guys were looking into some things….  Based off of what I’ve read here, we just fired our HR person. I don’t have any tolerance for what I’ve read.”

Cuban continued in an emotional response: “It’s wrong. It’s abhorrent. It’s not a situation we condone. I can’t tell you how many times, particularly since all this [#MeToo] stuff has been coming out recently I asked our HR director, ‘Do we have a problem? Do we have any issues I have to be aware of?’ And the answer was no.”

Cuban said that the Mavs were establishing a hotline for counseling and support services for past and current team employees. He is mandating sensitivity training for all employees, himself included.

“I want to deal with this issue,” Cuban told SI. “I mean, this is, obviously there’s a problem in the Mavericks organization and we’ve got to fix it. That’s it. And we’re going to take every step. It’s not something we tolerate. I don’t want it. It’s not something that’s acceptable. I’m embarrassed, to be honest with you, that it happened under my ownership, and it needs to be fixed. Period. End of story.”

Mark Cuban admitted to telling players on the Mavericks that losing games at this point in the season represents the best course for the franchise.

“I’m probably not supposed to say this, but, like, I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night and here we are, you know, we weren’t competing for the playoffs I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option,’” Cuban said on Dr. J's show. “Adam [Silver] would hate hearing that, but I at least sat down and I explained it to them. And I explained what our plans were going to be this summer, that we’re not going to tank again, this was, like, a year-and-a-half tanking and that was too brutal for me. But being transparent, I think that’s the key to being kind of a players owner and having stability."

Earlier in the season, Cuban spoke of a vastly different strategy after the Mavericks started the season 2-12.

"And until we're eliminated, we ain't tanking here, either," he said. 

"I still think we can turn this around."

The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to sign Kyle Collinsworth to a three-year deal.

Collinsworth's deal for the remainder of the season will be guaranteed.

The New York Knicks remain the NBA's most valuable franchise for the third straight season, according to Forbes' annual report.

The Knicks are valued at $3.6 billion, which is an increase of nine percent from 2017.

The Los Angeles Lakers rank second at $3.3 billion, an increase of 10 percent.

The Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics round out the top-5.

The average NBA franchise is now worth a record $1.65 billion, up 22% over last year, and more than triple the figure of five years ago. 

Every NBA team is valued at $1 billion or more for the first time in league history.

“Investor interest in the NBA is enormous right now,” said Forbes’ senior editor Kurt Badenhausen, “thanks to the league’s strong current economic environment, as well as the international growth prospects, which are the best of any major U.S. sports league.”

1. Knicks: $3.6 billion (+9%)
2. Lakers: $3.3 billion (+10%)
3. Warriors: $3.1 billion (+19%)
4. Bulls: $2.6 billion (+4%)
5. Celtics: $2.5 billion (+14%)
6. Nets: $2.3 billion (+28%)
7. Rockets: $2.2 billion (+33%)
8. Clippers: $2.15 billion (+7%)
9. Mavericks: $1.9 billion (+31%)
10. Heat: $1.7 billion (+26%)
11. Spurs: $1.55 billion (+32%)
12. Raptors: $1.4 billion (+24%)
13. Kings: $1.375 billion (+28%)
14. Wizards: $1.35 billion (+35%)
15. Cavaliers: $1.325 billion (+10%)
16. Blazers: $1.3 billion (+24%)
17. Suns: $1.28 billion (+16%)
18. Thunder: $1.25 billion (+22%)
19. Magic: $1.225 billion (+33%)
20. Jazz: $1.2 billion (+32%)
21. 76ers: $1.18 billion (+48%)
22. Pacers: $1.175 billion (+34%)
23. Hawks: $1.15 billion (+30%)
24. Nuggets: $1.125 billion (+26%)
25. Pistons: $1.1 billion (+22%)
26. Bucks: $1.075 billion (+37%)
27. Wolves: $1.06 billion (+38%)
28. Hornets: $1.05 billion (+35%)
29. Grizzlies: $1.025 billion (+30%)
30. Pelicans: $1 billion (+33%)

Seth Curry will undergo season-ending surgery on his left tibia.

Curry's recovery process will take 12-14 weeks.

Curry is expected to be back on the court by the start of free agency on July 1st. Curry will be an unrestricted free agent.

Curry signed a two-year, $6 million deal with the Mavericks in 2016.