Mark Cuban did not frame De’Aaron Fox’s late layup as only a player mistake.
The former Dallas Mavericks majority owner pointed to a larger NBA officiating question after Fox’s drive became one of the defining plays of the San Antonio Spurs’ crushing 107-106 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. With the Spurs leading by one in the final seconds, Fox attacked the rim rather than pulling the ball out and forcing New York to foul. OG Anunoby chased him down for a block, and the Knicks later won on Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.
“My 2 cents on the last layup,” Cuban wrote in a post on X. “There is no way any ref can keep up with that play and get in good position to make the call. Fox is too fast.”
Cuban added that fans can debate whether Fox should have shot the ball or played for contact. His bigger point was that the official may have had another way to get the play reviewed.
“But we should also ask whether the official should have known that each team had a challenge left,” Cuban wrote. “So by calling a foul, the video review would allow them to get the call right.”
That is the part of Cuban’s message that turns a viral Finals moment into a real rules discussion.
Mark Cuban Says NBA Should Consider Late-Game Review Change
Cuban made clear he was not trying to crush the official for missing a call in real time.
“I’m not blaming the ref for not taking this approach,” Cuban wrote. “Sprinting to get a look at the play was hard enough. But it would have been the right move.”
His proposal was more structural: give referees a way to ask for help in the final two minutes when they know they did not have the angle needed to make a confident call.
“The NBA should consider letting the refs ask for a challenge when they can’t get a good look at a play in the last two minutes,” Cuban wrote. “We often are asking them to do the impossible, like trying to sprint as fast as Fox on a breakaway.”
Under current NBA rules, a coach’s challenge can be used on only certain events, including a called personal foul charged to the challenging team, a called out-of-bounds violation where the challenging team was not awarded possession, or a called goaltending or basket interference violation with late-game limitations. The league’s rulebook also says non-calls are not challengeable events.
That distinction matters. Cuban’s argument is not simply that officials should review everything late. It is that a whistle can create a path to review, while a non-call often leaves the league to explain the play later through the Last Two Minute Report.
The NBA’s Last Two Minute Reports assess calls and notable non-calls in games that are within three points at any point in the final two minutes, but those reports come after the result is final.
De’Aaron Fox’s Decision Became the Spurs’ Defining Game 4 Moment
Fox explained after the loss that he believed he could beat the Knicks down the floor and stretch San Antonio’s lead to three. The Guardian reported Fox said, “I just thought I’d be able to outrun them,” after Anunoby blocked the attempt.
The criticism was immediate because of the game situation. San Antonio led by one, had the ball, and could have forced New York to foul. Instead, Fox’s quick shot gave the Knicks enough time to create the final possession that ended with Anunoby’s putback.
But Cuban’s point cuts against the easiest version of the blame game. Fox is one of the fastest players in the NBA. A transition play involving him, Anunoby and a trailing official is exactly the kind of sequence where real-time officiating can become nearly impossible.
That does not mean every late-game drive should become a replay stoppage. It does mean the league may have to keep asking whether its replay system gives officials enough tools in the highest-leverage moments.
“Trust the ref to use this only when needed and the game will be better for it,” Cuban wrote.
For the Spurs, the bigger issue is that Game 4 should never have come down to one play. San Antonio led by 29 points before the Knicks stormed back, and the loss left the Spurs facing a 3-1 series deficit. For the NBA, though, Cuban’s post raised a different question: whether the league’s pursuit of getting calls right should include a narrow late-game option for officials who know the play has outrun them.
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