Mark Cuban hears about stories like the recent O.J. Mayo recruiting saga, and does not expect the NBA or the NCAA to provide a meaningful fix.
Remember that Cuban, as an owner, is in a unique position, as he not only has a lot of contact with players, but he also gets to see first-hand how agents do business.
From his seat, with what he knows about the League, the agents, and the player, Cuban thinks the IRS would be the right group to clean up "amateur" basketball. He writes on his blog, Blog Maverick:
Fortunately there is a simple solution.
Bring in the IRS. I think I can say with certainty that there were not any contracts signed between the parties giving and receiving money on the behalf of High School students. Agree?
I think I can also say with certainty that those who gave more than 10k dollars in gifts did not pay any gift taxes on amounts given to individuals. If the amounts were given to charities, I'm guessing some, if not most of those charities were either not qualified or did not live up to their certification requirements.
Get the IRS involved, and I bet not only would the investigation pay for itself with untold millions coming back to the US Treasury in taxes and penalties, but the agents would clean up their acts very , very quickly. It would also clean up much of what ails "amateur" basketball. Its a world that has become dependent on a thriving underground economy. its a cash business. Just the kind the IRS should and could step in to clean up.
Hey, it worked on Al Capone, and the reality is, some of the agents in the game today, are not much more legit.
