Mavs Owner Cuban: I'd Draft Brittney Griner

Will Brittney Griner be the first woman in the NBA?

It would happen if Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has anything to say about it.

Cuban said Tue 5 April that he may use his second-round choice this year to make Griner the first woman ever to be drafted in the NBA.

"If she is the best on the board, I will take her," Cuban said. Now, of course, Cuban's comments have been met with skepticism and criticism by fans and media across the country, almost all of whom think Cuban is nuts.

Well, he confirmed that opinion when he wanted to buy the hapless Chicago Cubs.

Maybe he is crazy, but what harm would it do to give the kid a chance? Cuban said he'd draft her, but that is as far as it goes; the rest she'd have to earn on her own.

"She'd still have to make the team," Cuban said. "I'm not going to carry her just to carry her. I don't think, anyways. But I certainly wouldn't be opposed to giving her the opportunity."

Griner could probably hold her own with some of the guys who ride the bench on NBA rosters. Why not see what she could do? The NBA's summer league would love the added publicity to what it already has in store, if nothing else.

Still to be heard, though, is the WNBA. Don't think for a moment they didn't tell a delegate to stroll down the headquarters hall in Manhattan to bow before David Stern's throne and show him their own bank balance.

And make no mistake. If Griner's options become an issue, it will still be Stern who decides which ring in his circus gets her.