Mark Cuban said the Mavericks are acting in response to the new collective-bargaining agreement in making the choice to let Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea, and Caron Butler leave in free agency.

"The lockout and its resolution brought an entirely new system to the NBA,'' Cuban said. "The new CBA changed the rules of how to build a championship team considerably. In the past being a tax team did not hurt our ability to make trades and improve our team. The new rules are the exact opposite.

"While it's never easy when players who have been great to the organization leave, I believe we are going to be incredibly well positioned to compete this year, to add to our team, to be just as opportunistic as we ever were and to continue to improve.

"The Mavs have always put winning first. That has not changed. I think its imperative that we make the new rules work for us, and not against us. That is exactly what Donnie, Rick and I are trying to do.''