On more than a few occasions this season, Mark Cuban contorted his face and puffed out his pectorals: the portrait of a deranged fan coiling to strike over a missed call.

Cuban, the 44-year-old owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was asking for it again, the way a coach baits a referee for an ejection. He even publicly knocked N.B.A. officiating after at least two games.

But no one fined or suspended him; the league office refused to take his money. A year after he was docked $1 million in eight separate disciplinary measures by the league, Cuban has become the billionaire who cried wolf.

"I tried to get fined after a couple of games," Cuban said in an interview last week. "I didn't think there was a balance in the officiating, so I said so. It didn't work. I don't know, I guess they're used to me now."