During the podcast, Cuban was candid as usual, openly admitting what anyone who has watched the Mavericks this season could see was true.

“I’m probably not supposed to say this,” Cuban said, “but, like, I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night, and here we are, you know, we weren’t competing for the playoffs. I was like, ‘Look, losing is our best option.’ ”

He then referred to Silver, saying: “Adam would hate hearing that, but I at least sat down and I explained it to them. And I explained what our plans were going to be this summer, that we’re not going to tank again. This was, like, a year-and-a-half tanking, and that was too brutal for me. But being transparent, I think that’s the key to being kind of a players’ owner and having stability.”

The Mavericks, at 18-40, have the third-worst record in the N.B.A. despite the presence of Dirk Nowitzki, a likely future Hall of Famer, and a promising rookie, Dennis Smith Jr. If Dallas finishes with the worst record in the N.B.A., it would have a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick in this year’s draft. Starting in 2019, antitanking rules will take away much of that incentive by giving the bottom three teams each a 14 percent chance at the No. 1 pick.

Cuban, who stars on the television show “Shark Tank” in addition to his role with the Mavericks and various other business interests, has typically played down the effect of fines on the way he discusses his business. But the timing of this fine was particularly bad. On Tuesday, the team announced that it had engaged outside counsel to investigate reports that its former president and chief executive, Terdema Ussery, had engaged in “various acts of inappropriate conduct toward women” during his tenure.