The NBA would never admit that any of its teams are tanking, but people like Mark Cuban aren’t afraid to state the obvious. During an appearance on ESPN Wednesday, Cuban said that it’s an “absolute” certainty that several teams in the gawd-awful Eastern Conference are throwing the season away, in the hopes of landing a top Draft pick. Per PBT:

Appearing on Pardon the Interruption yesterday, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was asked about Eastern Conference teams tanking.

“Oh, yeah. There’s no suggestion. It’s an absolute.”

The Eastern Conference’s five worst teams: Bucks, 76ers, Magic, Celtics and Pistons.

In the last month, those five teams have gone 4-47 when not playing each other or a couple Western Conference tanking candidates, the Jazz and Kings.

Prior, those five teams went 53-166 against other opponents.