The NBA has developed into a league where the top players are signing $300 million contracts. Along with that owners have been pouring money into facilities, all to make life easier for them. But it all started when then-majority Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban realized change was needed.
But up until the early 2000’s, ‘such facilities’ were unheard off. During the times of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, they even had to fly commercial. There was a lack of training facilities, and players had to resort to their local gyms to stay in shape in the offseason.
Now, players under contract can use facilities all throughout the year. They do not need to spend their own money and are in fact given the luxuries to help them concentrate on playing basketball. Charles Barkley, was a player who could not enjoy such luxuries during his playing time. That led to him asking Mark Cuban his thought process behind bringing these changes.
I just wanted to put the players in a position to succeed. When you put them in a position to succeed, they don’t have excuses. I brought in fifteen former Mavericks to be coaches, every guy had their own, and that was the start of player developmental coaches in the NBA. The more guys can work on their skills, the better the team would be.
Mark Cuban on The Steam Room
Cuban’s efforts resulted in the Dallas Mavericks winning their first NBA title in 2011. But more importantly, it prompted other franchises to follow his model. Now all teams have continued to invest in facilities and luxuries that can make a player’s life easier.
Mark Cuban’s pioneering schemes are now trickling into the WNBA
Just like how Mark Cuban brought change into the NBA more than two decades back, the WNBA is also starting to implement those changes. Since its existence, WNBA franchises struggled to earn a profit, which meant owners did not want to invest their own money into such facilities.
The Las Vegas Aces were the first to build their own dedicated team facilities. Owner Mark Davis is passionate about his teams and invested his own money into building practice facilities, training facilities and recovery facilities. The result were two WNBA titles.
However, there is no guarantee of titles if one invests in such facilities. However, Phoenix Mercury owner Mat Ishbia emphasized that such facilities equip players to better compete for titles. He spent $100 million on state-of-the-art facilities for his players. Now, other WNBA franchises are following suit.
