Mark Cuban thinks teams will start signing players ‘whose greatest ability is to fight’ amid new physical playoffs

To this point, the 2025 NBA Playoffs have been defined by great physicality. Referees have swallowed their whistles and seemingly let players get away with more contact than they did in the 2024-25 regular season.

Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban thinks that the heightened level of physicality in these playoffs could have a trickle-down effect on the league that perhaps wouldn’t be beneficial, however. He estimated in a post on X that NBA teams will start adding players who are better at playing physical than they are at playing basketball if this style of play continues into the 2025-26 regular season.

“Here’s the thing,” Cuban wrote on X. “I guarantee you that no one at the top of the NBA made the decision that the games should be more physical. It’s the officials managing the games their way. Nothing changed in the rule book or case book. Right now every team still in, is calling the NBA asking what the hell is going on.

“The problem is that everything in the NBA always goes to excess. Guys will use physicality as a replacement for skill. Teams will adapt their rosters accordingly. If this stays in place for next reg season, I could see every team having a 2-way whose greatest ability is to fight and intimidate

“That said, wondering who will get into a fight next, which I believe is bad for the future of the NBA, will definitely draw more eyeballs.”

While some fans have embraced the change in physicality compared to the regular season, NBA players and coaches alike have expressed dissatisfaction with it. For one, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said recently that the physicality has “gone way too far” and that it has “disrupted the flow” of the game.

Additionally, Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown said that a fight might break out in the first-round series between the Celtics and Orlando Magic after the Magic committed three flagrant fouls against the defending champions over the first three games of the series.

For as much as the Celtics and Timberwolves have been knocked around in the 2025 NBA Playoffs already, both teams are in command in their best-of-seven series. Boston is up 3-1 on the Magic after picking up a win in Sunday’s Game 4, while the Timberwolves have a commanding 3-1 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Cuban’s Mavericks will not get a chance to taste the level of physicality in these playoffs, as the team saw its season come to an end in the play-in tournament. Dallas is the reigning Western Conference champions, as it reached the 2024 NBA Finals with guard Luka Doncic leading the way last year.

It will be worth keeping tabs on whether the referees continue to allow teams to play so aggressively as the 2025 NBA Playoffs continue on. Monday’s slate of playoff games will kick off when the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center, and Cleveland can sweep the Heat with a victory.