Mark Cuban denies Mavericks purposefully tanked to get back at Knicks: ‘Not a revenge guy’

BOSTON — It wasn’t personal against the Knicks, according to Mark Cuban, just the business of building his NBA finalist.

By sitting their top players at the end of last season, the Mavericks increased their chances of both retaining their 2023 first-rounder and also keeping it away from the Knicks — who would’ve taken the pick as the final Kristaps Porzingis payment if it landed outside the top 10.

Asked if it felt like unintended revenge after the Knicks were caught tampering with Jalen Brunson, Cuban told The Post, “I’m not a revenge guy.”

“We never tanked anything,” the Mavericks owner said. “We just decided to play our younger players the last couple of games. But it’s [general manager] Nico Harrison’s and mine’s and [coach] Jason Kidd’s job to make the tough decisions. Nobody who decides to rebuild effectively likes it. When you play your young players, it’s not always fun. So we just felt it was time to go young.”

The NBA certainly didn’t view it as run-of-the-mill rebuilding, however, and fined the team $750,000.

The problem? The Mavericks still had an opportunity for the play-in tournament but sat Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, among others, for the final two games.

They retained their lottery pick at No. 10 overall and used it to acquire Duke center Dereck Lively II, who developed into a key part of Dallas’ run to the NBA Finals.

“We made the decision 10 other teams made, right?” Cuban said. “We just made it a little bit later. Obviously it turned out well.”

Commissioner Adam Silver, who created the play-in tournament so that teams like the 2023 Mavericks wouldn’t tank away their late-season games, tried to downplay the connection between Lively and Dallas’ run to the NBA Finals.

“We sanctioned them. We did what we thought was appropriate at the time,” Silver said. “I would only say that the success they saw this season, that they’re now seeing in the playoffs and here they are at the finals, I don’t attribute it to one draft pick, as important as that draft pick has been to their team.”

Cuban said he’s unfazed by the perception.

“I don’t care. People give me s— all the time,” he said. “You guys [the media] give me s— all the time. Does it really matter? It’s like going on Twitter and expecting everybody to be nice to you. You know the game, you’ve been doing this forever. You’ve seen the ups and downs. A broken hand changes everything. I just try to enjoy the moment.”

Although the story is far from finished, the Knicks look like the losers of the Mavericks’ decision. Instead of their pick landing in the mid-teens last year, it will convey this month at No. 24.

The Knicks also have the No. 25 pick, which is their own.

About a year ago toward the end of a disappointing Mavericks’ season, Cuban publicly blamed Brunson’s father, Rick, for the point guard leaving Dallas in free agency for New York — “Where it went south was when Rick took over [the negotiations],” Cuban told reporters last April.

Rick Brunson has a long-standing relationship with both Knicks president Leon Rose and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.

The Knicks were docked a second-round pick for “engaging in free agency discussions involving Jalen Brunson prior to the date when such discussions were permitted.”

Cuban told The Post that it’s water under the bridge.

“I got no problem with [Rick]. When we played you guys, I saw him and said, ‘Hi.’ Shook his hand. What’s done is done,” Cuban said. “You can’t hold grudges in this league. There’s just like no point. The guy you hate is going to be your best player tomorrow.”