Way back in 2020, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was one of the first powerful voices in the NBA to push for a play-in tournament for the final two seeds in each conference. He got what he wanted and has been whining about it ever since.
In 2021, with the Mavs underperforming and flirting with the play-in all season, Cuban complained that the very existence of the play-in was forcing his precious stars to play too many minutes when they should have been in cruise control, calling the play-in "an enormous mistake." (A late-season Lakers fade helped the 2020-21 Mavs avoid the play-in on a tiebreaker.