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Cuban stumps for NBA realignment
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban would like to see his team — and seven other NBA teams — change conferences.
The past few years, the NBA featured more strong teams in the West than in the East. Cuban’s realignment plan might level the landscape, at least as rosters are currently structured.
“I think we’d be better off re-aligning like the NHL did,” Cuban told reporters Wednesday. “Take teams that are currently in the central in the East, put them in the West. I don’t think it changes the travel, it doesn’t change the considerations for the playoffs. And I think it shakes things up in terms of balance of power today but I think it makes things more interesting.”
Cuban advocates moving the Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans into the Eastern Conference. He would move the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers into the Western Conference.
“It kind of shakes things up not just in interest but also in terms of how people rebuild,” Cuban said. “It makes both conferences very competitive for the short term. And I think based off the history of the teams, for the long term, as well. Instead of the Southwest, it becomes the South.”
Cuban said he had not formally offered his plan to league officials.
