Jason Whitlock, a columnist I like, is calling for David Stern to hit Mark Cuban with a 13-day banishment from NBA arenas, and a season-long ban if it continues. I’ll attempt to sum up his argument as best I can: Cuban’s antics set the tone for fan complaining, which led to things being thrown on the floor in Dallas, David Stern getting booed while handing the trophy to the Heat, and a general sense of discontent among all sports fans at the perception of bad officiating in the Finals.

I don’t even know if David Stern could do this if he wanted to. Mark Cuban owns the Dallas Mavericks, he owns the building where they play their home games, and Stern can keep him out of there? I dunno about that. I don’t think David Stern can anymore ban Cuban from attending Mavs games then he could ban me from dry humping my Maria Sharapova chest pillow.

And why would he want to? I know it might not be the best thing for the NBA to have object hurled onto the floor in Dallas, and it might not be the best thing to have the NBA Finals trophy presentation booed… but these things happened in the NBA before Mark Cuban bought a team, and they’ll continue to happen after he’s gone. Am I to believe the fans wouldn’t have noticed the bad calls if Mark Cuban hadn’t been there to point them out? Come on.

And I don’t even mind Cuban’s bitching. When most of us bitch, we do it just to bitch. But Mark Cuban’s presence may actually lead to better officiating in the NBA. He’s got the time, resources, and desire to keep track of different trends and different officials, and he’ll get it to the NBA and get them to look at it. Whether or not that will someday result in any significant change, I can’t be sure, but at the end of the day, both Mark Cuban and David Stern want better officiating in the NBA. Hell, they both want the NBA to improve in a ton of different ways.

Officiating bitching and incitement not withstanding, even if you agree 100% with Whitlock on those points, let’s think bigger picture. Mark Cuban is absolutely fantastic for the Mavericks, and thus, for the NBA. If he doesn’t buy that team, the Mavericks don’t have a Western Conference championship, they don’t have one of the game’s best young coaches, they probably don’t have nearly as talented a roster, they don’t have the most innovative marketing in the league, they don’t have one of the most passionate fanbases in the league, and the NBA is probably short one excellent team and franchise.

So yeah, I think it would be a pretty bad idea to ban him from arenas. And even if that happened, it’s not like he wouldn’t have a voice anymore. I’m pretty sure he’d find a way to be heard. The only way I’d support an arena ban of Mark Cuban by the NBA would be if he started showing up to games in a speedo and a gold chain. Until then, Mark Cuban is a resource that the league should treasure.