It’s been one week since the novel coronavirus pandemic brought the NBA season and the rest of the sports world to a screeching halt.
With the growing COVID-19 outbreak affecting hundreds of thousands, dozens of professional athletes and organizations have stepped forward in an effort to provide aid.
Among those to lead the charge was the NBA, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban quickly became the face of the league’s efforts as on-court competition was suspended.
Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday morning, Cuban said he views sports as a unifying factor that will bring the country back together after coronavirus isolation ends. He pointed to the 2020 Summer Olympics, which have not yet been canceled and are scheduled to begin July 24 in Tokyo.
“Here’s what I’ll say. We all use sports as a way to celebrate, a way to get excited, a way to come together," Cuban said. "Nobody throws a parade when Apple or Google will have the most amazing quarter they’ve ever had, but when a team wins a championship, they throw a parade.
“And so hopefully we’ll have the Olympics, and we’ll be able to come together as a country around our team, the U.S. Olympics team, and that’ll be great for us. We’ll all get out of the house, we’ll all celebrate together.”
Cuban went on to call sports “vital” to the post-isolation recovery process, but that basketball is the last thing on his mind right now.
Within 48 hours after the suspension of the NBA season, Cuban delivered on his word to provide aid. The Mavericks on Friday released a statement indicating that the organization and American Airlines Center officials arranged to pay event staff for the six home games scrubbed for the duration of the league’s 30-day hiatus.
The Mavericks released a statement Sunday announcing that the organization will fully reimburse employees for breakfast and lunch purchases made from independent local establishments in the region.
On Wednesday, the Mavs Foundation announced that it is contributing $100,000 to nonprofits across North Texas -- which Cuban said will be done on a monthly basis until the NBA season resumes.
We will do this at least monthly till we get back to playing https://t.co/KMLlGtpjrM
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) March 18, 2020
And the Mavericks are just one of many franchises, athletes and leagues that have pledged donations to help those affected by the coronavirus in their respective regions.
“Hopefully when the NBA, the NHL, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, football, all start to really happen again, we’ll all get excited about our teams and as communities we’ll come together,” Cuban said. "Sports will be a vital mechanism for bringing people back together when this happens, and so, yeah, I’m excited for that, but in reality, basketball is the last thing on my mind right now.
"But I will say, we’re using the Mavericks to try to do as much as we can to keep people energized and engaged while everybody’s stuck at home.”
Listen to the full interview below.
Find more Mavericks stories from The Dallas Morning News here.
