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National anthem during the home game between the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks
Photo: Tony Gutierrez / AP
The Dallas Mavericks and their owner Mark Cuban have relented in a dispute over playing the national anthem before NBA basketball league games.
As the club and Cuban confirmed, the anthem is to be played again before home games in the future, after the NBA had reaffirmed its "long-term league policy" to include the song.
The Mavericks had done without the anthem in the first season games.
The club had not explicitly justified this, but last year Cuban had already campaigned for players who wanted to kneel during the anthem in protest against racism and police violence.
Now the Mavs released a statement confirming that the club would return to playing the anthem.
"We respect and have always respected people's passion for the anthem and our country," Cuban said.
“But we also hear aloud the voices of those who feel that the hymn does not represent them.
We believe that their voices must be respected and heard because they have not been heard before. "
"Our hope is that in the future people will have the same passion for this topic and the same energy to listen to those who think differently than they do," he said.
"Then we can move forward and have courageous conversations that will move this country forward and find what unites us."
In an interview with ESPN, Cuban also said that it was never his intention to stop playing the anthem forever.
The issue is part of an ongoing debate with people in the community and the league, especially when fans return to the arenas.
The NBA had initially responded to the non-playing of the anthem that the teams were free to arrange the activities before the games as they wish in view of the unusual circumstances.
But the NBA made an abrupt U-turn.
"With the NBA teams in the process of welcoming fans back to their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in accordance with the league's longstanding policy," the league announced.
The Mavericks played a pre-recorded anthem ahead of the 118-117 win over Atlanta on Wednesday night while both teams stood at the free throw lines, as set out in NBA guidelines.
All players and coaches stood.
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