With the Mavericks having ignominiously bowed out of the NBA playoff race in the final week of the season back in April, Dallas owner Mark Cuban has had a lot of time on his hands.
As it turns out, it has given him time to pose basketball fans a question some of them may not be comfortable answering.
"Got a question for everyone watching Heat vs. Celts right now," Cuban tweeted Monday evening mere minutes into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. "Who is watching on a pirated stream. I'm curious how prevalent it is."
Predictably enough, fans did not take kindly to this line of inquiry.
Got a personal question for everyone watching heats vs celts right now. Who is watching on a pirated stream. I'm curious how prevalent it is.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 30, 2023
The nickname "Narc Cuban" began trending shortly thereafter.
narc cuban https://t.co/LOx6FD00Yc
— Molly Morrison (@mollyhannahm) May 30, 2023
Some hailed the nickname as a manifestation of the spirit of Twitter.
this site may be dying but so long as we as a people can come together to tweet “Narc Cuban” at a midrange billionaire the soul still burns
— Alex Navarro (@alex_navarro) May 30, 2023
A few offered an alternate explanation.
everyone's making "narc cuban" jokes, but i choose to believe it's because he actually needs a stream pic.twitter.com/HF0Ul4R57v
— matt, an aston villa enjoyer (@MattF15) May 30, 2023
To answer Cuban's question: A 2017 survey from SMG Insight suggested that 54% of millennials watched illegal streams of live sports. Maybe this is a better way of putting it: enough people apparently stream that Cuban's post was quote-tweeted over 4,000 times in a little under an hour.
