The Mavs will see their title banner raised to the rafters while their NBA Finals foes sadly look on during the season opener on Christmas, but Mark Cuban hasn’t gotten their rings made yet. From the Star-Telegram and ESPN: “The Mavericks won’t receive their NBA championship rings on opening day against the Miami Heat after all. Owner Mark Cuban said, after much consideration, he has decided to give his players their rings on another game night. ‘Banner only [on] opening night,’ Cuban said via e-mail. ‘Rings will be another night.’”

“Mavs owner Mark Cuban has not had the 2010-11 championship rings designed because he wants to get input from Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd as to how the rings should look, Cuban confirmed Thursday night. ‘I think he is waiting for J-Kidd and Dirk and I to come up with something,’ Terry said Thursday when he was the lone Mavs player to work out at the American Airlines Center on the first day that locked-out players could return to their teams’ practice facilities. Cuban added that he considered handing out fake rings at the opener, but decided to hold the banner raising ceremony and ring presentation on separate nights, giving fans that might have attended the canceled Nov. 1 opener, but have other plans on Christmas Day, a chance to see one of the special moments.”

Feel free to leave your comments below.

There is the quick update of the day.

Credit: AP Photo

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, right, arrives for labor talks between the NBA and the players’ association, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 in New York. NBA commissioner David Stern said last week during an interview with WFAN radio in New York that without a deal Tuesday, when the sides meet with federal mediator George Cohen, his “gut” was that there wouldn’t be NBA basketball on Christmas. The man at left is NBA security agent Greg Robinson. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

The Dallas Mavericks are going to get their rings on opening night after all. Whenever that is.

Remember in the aftermath of the Mavericks championship owner Mark Cuban was talking about doing something different, not just giving his players championship rings. That was too old school for Cuban.

Except Cuban has an old-school team, so he relented and the team will get rings, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Anyway, Cuban said: “I will get rings, but maybe not quite traditional in one way or another.”

Sometimes, doing something traditional is not all bad, Mark. Although personally I was really hoping for WWE-style championship belts. That would have been sweet.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made the unpopular claim that his team wouldn’t be getting title rings for winning the championship back in June, but he appears to have changed his mind. Wise move, Mark. From the Dallas Morning News: “Mark Cuban, after careful deliberation, has decided that the Mavericks will receive championship rings for their title that was won in June. By ‘careful deliberation,’ we mean it probably came after one night of partying with the players after the Miami series. Back when those things were legal. As you recall, Cuban had an off-the-cuff remark after the championship series against Miami that he thought rings had become too old-school for this day and age. Turns out old-school works for an old team. Anyway, Cuban said: ‘I will get rings, but maybe not quite traditional in one way or another.’”

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

The internal watchdog at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded that the accusations of investigative misconduct against the enforcement division by Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner Mark Cuban have no merit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

That’s all the news for today.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The internal watchdog at the Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded that the accusations of investigative misconduct against the enforcement division by Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner Mark Cuban have no merit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The SEC sued Cuban in 2008 for insider trading, alleging that he had sold his 6.3 percent stake in Mamma.com in June 2004 after learning confidentially that the Montreal-based search engine company was planning a stock offering. The SEC said Cuban’s sale allowed him to avoid more than $750,000 of losses.

The case was initially dropped in July 2009 by a federal judge who ruled that Cuban did not qualify as an insider. But last September, Cuban was ordered to face the charges by a federal appeals court, reviving the high-profile insider trading case.

In both court filings and in complaints to the SEC’s inspector general, Cuban had claimed that he was unfairly treated by SEC enforcement attorneys.

He accused the SEC of conducting the probe in “an unfair, biased, and improper manner designed to prevent him from successfully persuading the SEC not to bring an enforcement action.”

His complaints include that investigators pursued the case with bias, intimidated a witness and abused the “Wells notice” process, which is the method the SEC uses to alert targets of probes that the agency may bring charges against them.

In a recently completed report that examined Cuban’s claims, SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz concluded that Cuban’s allegations have no merit, according to a person familiar with the report. The person declined to be named because the findings have not yet been made public.

An attorney for Cuban and the SEC’s inspector general could not be immediately reached for comment. John Nester, a spokesman for the SEC, declined to comment.

Kotz’s findings mark the latest setback for Cuban in his defense against the insider-trading charges.

In July, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater tossed out one of Cuban’s defenses in the case, ruling that Cuban failed to show that the SEC had investigated him improperly.

Had the judge ruled in his favor, he would have then been allowed to argue that the SEC had “unclean hands.”

At the time of the ruling, however, the judge did not take any position on whether or not Cuban’s allegations of misconduct had merit.

In a previous interview with Reuters, Cuban’s attorney Lyle Roberts had called the ruling a “minor” issue, saying Cuban still has a long list of other defenses.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Editing by Sandra Maler)

That’s all for today.

On Wednesday night, the sports universe celebrated itself with the annual ESPYs, a barrel of awards and yucks presided over by Seth “Mr. Comedy” Meyers. There were NBA lockout zings and a good time was had by all.

However, the Dallas Mavericks’ win in the Best Team (the biggest award of the night, I think, although who really knows) created a bit of controversy. When the team won, assorted players, including Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki(notes) and Finals participant Brian Cardinal(notes), went up on stage to give awkward speeches. But they were also joined by team owner Mark Cuban, which means everyone exchanged handshakes and some short congratulations.

By the NBA’s lockout rules, Cuban should be fined for these interactions. However, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller got word from an NBA spokesman that Cuban got clearance to fraternize with the enemy beforehand.

As in the case of Heat brass attending Chris Bosh’s wedding, it seems as if the NBA is willing to make exceptions for important personal events or unavoidable public interactions, especially if those events involve corporate partners that pay the league billions of dollars for television rights. Still, it’s a little unclear to me why certain interactions are allowed and others are not. For instance, a wedding is certainly a major event in a person’s life, and his friends should be around to celebrate. But shouldn’t those same friends be allowed to send each other messages on their birthdays?

It’s nice that the NBA allows some interaction, but they are still creating arbitrary distinctions between what kinds of relationships are important and which aren’t. It’s one thing to be in a protracted labor dispute. Acting as if those same people should stop treating each other like human beings goes too far.

Whatever the case, I’m glad the Mavs got to hang out with Jason Bateman. I hear Cubes is a big fan of “Valerie’s Family.”

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• The ‘Supermom’ who leads Team USA
• Rivals’ Top 25 college football players of the decade • Mom embarrasses HS star son in middle of game

Related: Brian Cardinal, Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks, Video, Lockout videos

Thanks for visiting our blog =).

On Wednesday night, the sports universe celebrated itself with the annual ESPYs, a barrel of awards and yucks presided over by Seth “Mr. Comedy” Meyers. There were NBA lockout zings and a good time was had by all.

However, the Dallas Mavericks’ win in the Best Team (the biggest award of the night, I think, although who really knows) created a bit of controversy. When the team won, assorted players, including Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki(notes) and Finals participant Brian Cardinal(notes), went up on stage to give awkward speeches. But they were also joined by team owner Mark Cuban, which means everyone exchanged handshakes and some short congratulations.

By the NBA’s lockout rules, Cuban should be fined for these interactions. However, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller got word from an NBA spokesman that Cuban got clearance to fraternize with the enemy beforehand.

As in the case of Heat brass attending Chris Bosh’s wedding, it seems as if the NBA is willing to make exceptions for important personal events or unavoidable public interactions, especially if those events involve corporate partners that pay the league billions of dollars for television rights. Still, it’s a little unclear to me why certain interactions are allowed and others are not. For instance, a wedding is certainly a major event in a person’s life, and his friends should be around to celebrate. But shouldn’t those same friends be allowed to send each other messages on their birthdays?

It’s nice that the NBA allows some interaction, but they are still creating arbitrary distinctions between what kinds of relationships are important and which aren’t. It’s one thing to be in a protracted labor dispute. Acting as if those same people should stop treating each other like human beings goes too far.

Whatever the case, I’m glad the Mavs got to hang out with Jason Bateman. I hear Cubes is a big fan of “Valerie’s Family.”

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
• The ‘Supermom’ who leads Team USA
• Rivals’ Top 25 college football players of the decade • Mom embarrasses HS star son in middle of game

Related: Brian Cardinal, Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks, Video, Lockout videos

Leave your comments on the news below.

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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, suffered a legal setback on Monday when a Dallas federal judge threw out one of his defenses in a Securities and Exchange Commission insider-trading lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater said Cuban failed to show that the SEC had investigated him improperly, which would have allowed him to argue that the regulator had “unclean hands”. The SEC had asked the judge to block Cuban from using such a defense in court.

“Cuban has failed to allege facts that give the SEC fair notice that the misconduct on which he relies resulted in prejudice to his defense of the enforcement action that rises to a constitutional level,” the judge wrote.

“This is fatal to his unclean hands defense.”

The SEC sued Cuban in 2008, alleging that he sold his 6.3 percent stake in Mamma.com in June 2004 after learning confidentially that the Montreal-based search engine company was planning a stock offering. It said Cuban’s sale allowed him to avoid more than $750,000 of losses.

Lyle Roberts, a lawyer for Cuban, said SEC Inspector General David Kotz was separately looking into Cuban’s allegations of improper conduct by the SEC. He characterized the judge’s ruling on Monday as a “minor” issue.

“We have a very long list of defenses, the key being that it didn’t happen,” Roberts said. “Mr. Cuban did not enter into any confidentiality agreement or violate any such agreement.”

A federal district judge dismissed the SEC case in July 2009, saying Cuban did not qualify as an insider, and at most had entered a confidentiality agreement with Mamma.com rather than an agreement not to trade.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans reinstated the lawsuit last September, ordering Cuban to face the SEC allegations.

Fitzwater did not take any position on whether Cuban’s allegations of investigative misconduct by the SEC had merit.

Those allegations include witness intimidation, and proceeding with a legal action prior to completing an investigation.

The case is SEC v. Cuban, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, No. 08-02050.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Ted Kerr)

Thanks for visiting our blog =).

So this is what Mark Cuban meant when he said he planned to give the Dallas Mavericks something different than the typical NBA Championship rings.

Via KDonhoops

Bazooka sent the Mavericks championship Ring Pops. We’ll assume the real things are coming later, and expect them to be ridiculously blinged-out.

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.