Dallas Mavericks home games have been a bit different this season.
Through 13 pre-season and regular season games at American Airlines Center, the national anthem has not been played before tipoff.
According to Tim Cato of The Athletic, owner Mark Cuban confirmed that the organization has ceased playing the national anthem before games and does not plan to play it moving forward.
The Mavericks made no public announcement that they were planning to do this, nor did they reportedly announce or explain internally.
No further explanation has yet to be given by Cuban or the Mavericks.
A league spokesperson told Cato that “under the unique circumstances of this season, teams are permitted to run their pregame operations as they see fit.”
The national anthem has become a point of contention in the country after Colin Kaepernick began kneeling as a form of protest against police brutality and injustice against minorities in the country.
Last summer, following the death of George Floyd, NBA players were among the most vocal and the NBA supported its players who were outspoken on racial injustice.
While the rulebook requires players to stand during the national anthem, nearly every player in the league knelt when the season resumed in the Orlando bubble and the league painted Black Lives Matter onto its court.
Cuban was among the owners supportive of players, saying he would join them. In July, he had said in what appears to be a now-deleted tweet, “The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control. If you want to complain, complain to your boss and ask why they don’t play the National Anthem every day before you start work.”
The Mavericks played their first game of the season with limited fan attendance on Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are believed to be the first professional sports team to cease playing the anthem before games with fans.
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