Mark Cuban Says Josh Howard Was Too Hung Over to Play Against His Now Current Team

Newly acquired Wizard Josh Howard bristled at rumors that have swirled in recent days that allege that he missed a January Mavericks game against Washington because he was too hung over to play. But this morning in an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Mark Cuban was all too willing to confirm the reports dogging his former player.↵↵⇥Cuban also talked about former Maverick Josh Howard missing a game because he was hung over. Cuban said that he thought Howard could have done more to play that day. Cuban said if he doesn’t trust a player, he can really check up on them. “You can’t be partying the night before a game. Period, end of story,” Cuban said. He did say he doesn’t care about off nights.↵↵↵Cuban also went on about the lengths he goes to to monitor the online activity of his players on the nights before games, which probably won’t necessarily stop them from going out so much as deter them from bragging about it online. In the case of Howard, it would be more helpful for Cuban to admit that the incident in question was part of a larger pattern of behavior that led him to distrust his player instead of merely clarifying the details of one particularly embarrassing incident. Obviously, the implication is that Howard isn’t focused enough on playing to instill confidence, but unless the January absence was enough of a violation to constitute being traded, then going into the particulars comes off as only petty.↵

↵↵(H/T to SportsbyBrooks)↵

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