The severe penalty the Mavericks deserve for punking the NBA’s play-in and mocking the very idea of sports

The end of the regular season is supposed to be a prelude to the playoffs.

It is supposed to remind fans what the sport has to offer. It is supposed to be when casuals are given a reason to tune in.

Games 17, 82 and 162 are supposed to be — get this — dramatic, and no, competing to keep your top-10 protected pick does not count as dramatic.

That is why the NBA not just should, but must, come down hard on the Mavericks for making a mockery of their play-in competition and the fundamental idea that making the playoffs is, unto itself, a success.

The league is investigating the Mavericks’ decision to rest Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, Josh Green and Christian Wood and to sit Luka Doncic after the first quarter on Friday against the Bulls.

Inspector Clouseau couldn’t mess this one up.

Sitting just a half-game out of the play-in round, the Mavericks made the organizational decision to prioritize their first-round pick, which will convey to the Knicks this year if it lands outside the top 10, over extending their season.

The loss moved the Mavericks’ pick to No. 10 if the draft lottery odds hold.

So the punishment here should be easy: Give the Knicks the pick this year anyway. And dock the Mavs their 2024 first-round pick for good measure.

If that sounds drastic, here’s why it is not: The Mavericks played Friday to lose. They violated the social contract that makes sports work.

Just as players betting against their own teams would undermine the game, so too does an organization deciding it would be better off losing a specific game and missing the playoffs.

The NBA, and other sports, always will have to confront the broader issue of tanking, especially when there are generational talents such as Victor Wembanyama and Connor Bedard to be had in the draft.

If you are a hockey fan getting ready to claim superiority — and yes, the NHL currently has tight wild-card races in both conferences — be ready to answer for what the Ducks, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets are doing to try to get Bedard, who is expected to be a generational superstar.

Here’s the thing, though: Tanking or not, someone has to finish last. There always will be bad teams. It’s shameful that teams prioritize it, but someone has to get the No. 1 pick.

But to poison a playoff race so late on is something different than what the Process-era 76ers did, for example, and should be treated differently by the league.

By the logic that even the 10th overall pick would be better than making the playoffs, the Thunder should have been sitting their best players in perpetuity. Instead, they have helped develop their core — and given their fan base something to be happy about — by giving their team meaningful games to play.

The Mavericks have done wrong by their own players and coaches, who still were trying to win. They have done wrong by the NBA’s TV partners, who are paying millions of dollars to broadcast games on the premise that they will be competitive. And they’ve done wrong by the fans, who deserve to see teams in a position to compete for postseason berths do just that.

“I can’t speak for [Doncic],” Mavs coach Jason Kidd told reporters Friday. “But I think when you look at it, we all said we want to have the opportunity to find a way to get in [the play-in].

“And we were gonna play until told otherwise. And today was the day that we were told we’re gonna do something different.”

If the NBA wants to grow the game, if it wants to re-attract fans who have been turned off by its regular-season product, then this cannot stand.

It is not just a matter of competition, it is one of business.

Make an example of the Mavericks. And do it now.

Here’s the schedule for the Mavs-less play-in tournament:

Tuesday, April 11

Atlanta Hawks at Miami Heat, 7:30 p.m., TNT … Winner gets No. 7 seed in East

The Fightin’ Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers, 10 p.m., TNT … Winner gets No. 7 seed in West

Wednesday, April 12

Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors, 7 p.m., ESPN

Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Pelicans, 9:30 p.m., ESPN

Friday, April 14

Bulls-Raptors winner at Hawks-Heat loser, 7/7:30 p.m., TNT … Winner gets No. 8 seed in East

Thunder-Pelicans winner at T’wolves-Lakers loser, 9:30/10 p.m., ESPN … Winner gets No. 8 seed in West

And here’s the schedule of first-round Game 1s on Saturday, April 15:

Brooklyn Nets at Philadelphia 76ers, 1 p.m., ESPN

East No. 7 at Boston Celtics, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers, 6 p.m., ESPN

Golden State Warriors at Sacramento Kings, 8:30 p.m., ABC

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The NHL’s nightly drama

The nightly drama on both sides of the NHL’s wild-card race has been highly entertaining, and it features some local stakes.

In the Eastern Conference, the Islanders are in a dogfight — one point currently separates three teams vying for two wild-card spots (the Sabres, behind all three, have not been eliminated, but would need a miracle to get in).

The Panthers and Islanders each have 91 points with Florida ahead on the regulation-wins tiebreaker. The Penguins are one point behind.

Things between the Panthers and the Islanders are so close right now, with the Panthers ahead by one regulation win and one total win while tied on regulation-plus-overtime wins, it is feasible to think the tiebreaker ultimately could come down to goal differential — the sixth out of seven tiebreakers used by the league. The Isles currently are up two in goal differential.

All three teams have two games left. The Islanders play in Washington on Monday and home against Montreal on Wednesday. The Panthers plays the Maple Leafs at home on Monday before finishing up Thursday at home against the Hurricanes. The Penguins hosts the Blackhawks on Tuesday at home and closes a trip to Columbus on Thursday.

In the West, it’s down to Winnipeg, Calgary and Nashville for the final wild-card spot.

The Flames notched a crucial win over the Jets on Wednesday, but after the Jets beat Nashville on Saturday, they are very much in control of the situation — up by a point with three games remaining to the Flames’ two.

The schedule, though, does not do the Jets any favors: Their final two games are in Minnesota and Colorado following a home game against San Jose on Monday.

Calgary plays Nashville on Monday, and if either team loses in regulation, its chances will dwindle close to zero. The Flames finish on Wednesday against San Jose. The Predators close with home games against Minnesota and Colorado.

What about the Rangers and Devils?

It isn’t yet official that we’ll see a Rangers-Devils first-round series, but it’s looked that way for a long time.

The Devils are only a point behind the Hurricanes for the first seed in the Metropolitan Division, but the Hurricanes have a game in hand.

The Rangers are three behind Carolina and two behind New Jersey — with their two remaining matches against Buffalo and Toronto at the Garden, they are mostly playing for home ice in the first round, though there is still a mathematical possibility of reeling in the Hurricanes.

LIV to play another day at Masters

Maybe it’s not so surprising that two Greg Norman-backed golfers tied for second at Augusta.

Thanks to a drama-free 69 on Sunday from Jon Rahm for his first Masters victory and second major win, the golf world avoided a reckoning that will come in the future when a LIV-backed golfer wins a major.

Brooks Koepka played himself out of a green jacket with a third-round 73 paired with a 75 on Sunday, and Phil Mickelson’s 65 on Sunday came too late for it to result in more than a tie for second.

But there is too much talent on the LIV Tour — particularly if Koepka is back to his old self — to assume the Saudis won’t be able to celebrate a major win sooner rather than later.

And, make no mistake — though LIV has no hand in putting on majors and though an individual’s victory would be primarily his own — a win for a LIV golfer would be a win for Saudi Arabia.

If you wished to read into it, there were a few signs of golf’s (or CBS’) discomfort with that possibility on Sunday. Jim Nantz seemed to take a not-so-subtle shot at LIV’s piddling broadcast deal with the CW, and the broadcast of the final round was immediately followed by “60 Minutes,” which included a report on Saudi Arabian sportswashing.

But is the golf world really ready to reckon with the moral conundrum of a LIV golfer winning a major? After all, this is not a sport known for its ability to deal with social issues.

It is probably a small victory that Sunday delayed that moment.