Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said Tuesday night that he had instructed the team to stop playing the national anthem before its home games this season.

“It was my decision, and I made it in November,” Cuban said. He declined to comment further.

The Mavericks did not announce the new policy, but Cuban was allowed to enact it because the N.B.A. has permitted teams “to run their pregame operations as they see fit” because of “the unique circumstances this season,” according to a league spokesman.

Nearly two-thirds of the league’s 30 teams are still not admitting fans to home games, as the N.B.A. grapples with the complexities of trying to stage a 72-game season in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dallas is believed to be the only team in the league that has abandoned the anthem at home games, a decision that was first reported by The Athletic. Other teams have continued to play recorded versions of the anthem.

The league rule book has required players to stand during the national anthem since the 1980s, but Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, said in December that the rule would not be strictly enforced this season. The league also chose not to enforce the rule during its restarting of the 2019-20 season in a bubble environment at Walt Disney World in Florida, where many players opted to kneel during the anthem to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement and to demonstrate against systemic racism and social injustice in the United States.

“I recognize that this is a very emotional issue on both sides of the equation in America right now, and I think it calls for real engagement rather than rule enforcement,” Silver said in December.

The anthem has not been played at American Airlines Center in Dallas before any of the Mavericks’ 13 preseason or regular-season home games this season. In a victory on Monday night over Minnesota, Dallas became one of the 11 teams in the league that are admitting reduced crowds — 1,500 frontline workers in the health care and food-service industries, as well as police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers.

This, however, is not the first time in franchise history that the club has declined to play the national anthem before games. For the club’s first 16 years of existence, when it was owned by Donald Carter, “God Bless America” was sung instead before home games at the old Reunion Arena. The Mavericks began playing the national anthem after the team was purchased by Ross Perot Jr. on May 1, 1996. Cuban bought the Mavericks in January 2000.

In an interview on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” last June, before the N.B.A. resumed the 2019-20 season, Cuban said he would support players who knelt during the anthem as a form of protest.

“If they were taking a knee and they were being respectful, I’d be proud of them,” Cuban said. “Hopefully I’d join them.”

Cuban did not accompany the Mavericks to the bubble at Disney World, but he said via Twitter shortly after his ESPN appearance: “The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control. If you want to complain, complain to your boss and ask why they don’t play the National Anthem every day before you start work.”

Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win the U.S.A. Gymnastics national championship, who was later denied a shot at the Olympics by an ill-timed injury, died on Feb. 4 in Chicago. She was 52.

Her sister, Alice Durham Woods, confirmed the death, at Swedish Hospital on the North Side, attributing it to an unspecified “brief illness.”

After winning the junior national champion in 1981 and 1982, Durham was considered among the best female vaulters in the world when she entered the 1983 senior championship.

She was known for rocketing her tiny frame — 4-foot-7 and 100 pounds at 15 years old — high into the air off a vaulting horse. Commentators also extolled her grace, as showcased by her balletic floor exercise in the 1983 championship.

On the uneven bars during that competition, she knocked her left foot against a bar, prompting a CBS Sports reporter to ask her whether the injury would hamper her in the events to come. “I’ll be having too much fun,” she answered.

As she went on to flip and spin her way to a dominant victory, a sportscaster announced, “It is Dianne Durham day.”

Durham became the top-ranked female gymnast in the country and a front-runner for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Ebony magazine ran a glowing profile of her a few months after her win, noting that she had “a chance at not only becoming the first Black woman to make the Olympics gymnastic team, but the first Black to win a gold medal in the sport that has been dominated by Whites since it became an Olympic sport in 1896.”

“Comaneci is history,” the magazine said about the Romanian Nadia Comaneci, then the sport’s most famous athlete and a former pupil of Durham’s coach, Bela Karolyi. “It’s Dianne Durham’s turn for the spotlight.”

That dream crashed when, after a series of other injuries, Durham landed awkwardly during her vault in the 1984 Olympic trials and severely sprained an ankle. She still managed a score of 9.1 in the event, good enough to keep her in the running for the Olympics, but she was struggling to walk and withdrew from the rest of the competition.

The Washington Post calculated that she was .24 points shy of the final spot on the Olympic team. Durham said later that if the stakes had been clear to her, she would not have withdrawn from the trials and instead pushed through the pain. She added that the selection committee’s decision not to include her was never fully explained to her.

“This is a pretty big injustice to not have Durham on the Olympic team,” Karolyi told The Post. “The team needs her, the country needs her.”

A training partner of Durham’s, Mary Lou Retton, went on that year to become the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics and a “folk heroine,” as The Times wrote in 1984.

But a profile of Durham on the ESPN website last year showed that many in gymnastics thought she had made her own lasting mark on the sport by proving that young Black women could reach its pinnacle.

“The young Black gymnasts could look up to her,” Luci Collins, a Black gymnast a generation older, told ESPN. “They could see her and relate.”

The lineage of female African-American gymnasts extending from Durham includes Betty Okino and Dominique Dawes, the first Black women to win Olympic gymnastic medals, in 1992; Gabby Douglas, the first Black Olympic champion in the all-around event; and the sport’s current star, Simone Biles.

In a speech she gave while being inducted into a U.S. gymnastics regional hall of fame in 2017, Durham said her 1983 victory had “showcased to the entire country that a little Black girl from Gary, Indiana, could be the best gymnast in the country.”

ImageDurham signing autographs after winning the women’s title at the McDonald’s U.S.A. Gymnastic Championships at the University of Illinois in 1983. Credit…Lisa Genesen/Associated Press

Dianne Patrice Durham was born in Gary on June 17, 1968. Her father, Ural, worked at Midwest Steel in labor relations, and her mother, Calvinita (Carter) Durham, taught elementary school.

Dianne took up gymnastics at age 3 and before long started winning competitions. After claiming the 1981 junior championship at 13, she moved to Houston to train with Karolyi. Her mother soon quit her job and moved there as well.

Durham retired from competition soon after the 1984 Olympic trials. In the early 1990s she was the assistant women’s gymnastics coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She found work doing choreographed gymnastic and dance routines and appeared in the closing ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. She also performed at a theme park in Osaka, Japan.

From 1996 to 2013, Durham ran her own gym, Skyline Gymnastics, on Chicago’s North Side. Some gymnasts she had trained won state and regional competitions. She also served as a judge at gymnastics events, including the national championship.

She married Tom Drahozal, a school administrator and a girls’ basketball coach, in 1994. In addition to her sister, her husband and father survive her.

Reflecting on her 1983 championship victory in her hall of fame speech, Durham gave much credit to her family and friends. Relatives had chipped in to help pay for her training in Houston as a young teenager. For the competition in Chicago, buses drove in from Gary carrying hundreds of supporters, members of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, where a great-grandfather of Durham’s was one of the earliest deacons in the 1920s.

At the meet, they held up a banner that read “We Love Dianne” and wore T-shirts with her name inscribed around a heart.

“That support helped give me the extra edge I needed to win,” she said.

The buzzer sounded, signaling a Charlotte Hornets loss to the Indiana Pacers. Charlotte wouldn’t have to wait long to try to exact revenge.

This N.B.A. season is unusual in many ways because of the coronavirus pandemic, and one of its main scheduling wrinkles is that teams are playing each other in consecutive games to reduce travel and potential virus exposure.

For the Hornets (12-13), a young, rebuilding team that has turned heads with its star rookie LaMelo Ball, the two-game stands have become a time for learning. Charlotte provided behind-the-scenes access to The New York Times for 48 hours to see how its coaching staff — a team within a team — prepared for recent back-to-back home games against the Pacers. There was practice (practice?), film sessions together and apart, family time and a little bit of trash talk.

“I allow my coaches — I trust them — to put together a good game plan,” Hornets Coach James Borrego said. “I take in that information, I digest it, and obviously I make the final decisions. But I trust them to help me make those decisions.”

Three of the assistant coaches — Jay Triano, Ronald Nored and Nick Friedman — focus on the team’s offense, while the other three — Chad Iske, Dutch Gaitley and Nate Mitchell — prioritize defense.

“A big, overall philosophy for me is a developmental approach with our players, that they help our players grow and develop,” Borrego said. “And I want to have a culture as a head coach that our coaches are developing as well. They’re not just static.”

Another assistant, Jay Hernandez, recently departed to coach the Greensboro Swarm in the G League’s bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla.

This season is the staff’s third as a group. Triano has head coaching experience, with the Toronto Raptors and the Phoenix Suns. Nored is young enough to have shared a backcourt with Charlotte’s marquee off-season acquisition, Gordon Hayward, when the pair played together at Butler.

“We blend well,” Nored said of the coaching staff. “We have a couple of 30-year-olds. Chad is in his 40s. Jay’s in his 60s, but he acts like he’s 25, so it all fits really well together.”

ImageAfter losing to the Pacers on Jan. 27, the Hornets had less than 48 hours to prepare for a rematch.Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Wednesday, Jan. 27

10 p.m. — Indiana 116, Charlotte 106

The coaches started filtering from the Spectrum Center following the loss to Indiana. Nored, 30, spoke to Hayward over the phone as the two drove home, dissecting the game. Indiana limited Hayward to just 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting in 40 minutes.

Getting home that night provided a short decompression window for most of the coaches before they dove back into work. Gaitley, 33, caught an episode of “The Real Housewives of Dallas” with his wife, Moraya. “Made sure that I was up on everything, so that whenever we have that conversation, she knows that I was listening,” he said.

At home, Nored tries to study film only after his 2-year-old daughter, Avery, is asleep. He caught up with his wife, Danielle, before plopping on his living room couch, close enough to attend to Avery or his month-old son, Kai, should they stir.

Indiana’s defense was Nored’s scout, meaning he was tasked with providing the rest of the coaching staff with a report on the Pacers’ defense so they could prep Charlotte’s offense. (Gaitley had to do the opposite.)

Nored watched the game again from his laptop. He jotted notes as he created the video edit that he would show the staff the next day, with clips no longer than three minutes highlighting key decisions and reads.

Midnight — ‘It’s a grind.’

Jordan Surenkamp, Charlotte’s head video coordinator, wrapped up his evening at the arena. The video staff coded the game as it happened, breaking it into segments — for example, all of the team’s pick-and-rolls and how Indiana defended them.

When the game ended, Surenkamp reviewed the film, tightening the segments into digestible pieces before making them available to the coaches. The video staff also gathered film for the players, such as all their shots or assists, so that it would be available to them by the time they returned home. Surenkamp then moved on to his own duties, editing video and compiling statistical spreadsheets, then sending any noticeable trends to the coaching staff.

“It’s really the hub of my program, the video room,” Borrego said.

It’s also Borrego’s background. Long ago, he started his N.B.A. career in San Antonio’s film room under Coach Gregg Popovich. He sets high standards for Surenkamp, who tries to be the first into the arena and the last to leave.

“The expectation is there to be really, really good and prompt and available at what I do,” Surenkamp said. “But I think with that being said, he does understand that it’s a grind, it’s longer days, there’s a lot of responsibilities that I’m given.”

ImageHornets Assistant Coach Dutch Gaitley, left, with Caleb Martin.Credit…Courtesy Charlotte HornetsImageHornets Assistant Coach Ronald Nored, right, with LaMelo Ball.Credit…Courtesy Charlotte Hornets

Thursday, Jan. 28

7 a.m. — ‘One game ahead’

Surenkamp had already been at the arena for an hour by the time the assistant coaches returned and eased into their practice day. Friedman, 30, hopped on the treadmill while listening to the author Ben Greenfield’s fitness podcast. Nored had dropped Avery off at school en route to the Spectrum Center, then did some recreational reading before starting his day. Gaitley watched film on his next scout, the Miami Heat, whom the Hornets would play in four days. “You’re always working on one game ahead,” Triano, 62, said.

10:30 a.m. — ‘Who was talking trash?’

The defensive staff filed into a room for a coaches’ meeting, making small talk. George Rodman, Charlotte’s director of basketball analytics and strategy, opened by discussing the recent saga involving GameStop’s stock. “We’re talking about what happened the night before,” Gaitley said. “Who was talking trash or posted on Instagram? You’re joking about that, and keeping everybody up to date on everything that’s happening in the league and then you sort of organically jump into it.”

The group watched the video edit that Gaitley had compiled, discussing whether they adhered to their main principles of protecting the paint, grabbing defensive rebounds and contesting 3-point shots. Nored watched, looking for points to emphasize with Ball, one of his developmental priorities and an early leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award.

11:15 a.m. — ‘I’m going to get my game.’

Pre-practice: The players who did not log many minutes in Wednesday’s game went through an extra workout session to maintain their cardio. Gaitley let the veteran Bismack Biyombo choose between playing pickup with the other players or working out individually.

While Biyombo chose to work out, Malik Monk and the twins Caleb and Cody Martin played three games of four-on-four with Gaitley and the assistant video coordinators. “When you’re playing with Gordon Hayward, you’re not going to get 25 shots,” Gaitley said. “But when you play against the video guys, that’s where you’re like: ‘All right, I’m going to get some shots. I’m going to get my game. Get into rhythm.’”

The moment afforded Gaitley a chance to connect with the players. He is the son of Stephanie Gaitley, the women’s basketball coach at Fordham University. As a child, he often accompanied her on recruiting visits. Occasionally, she handed him a binder that listed tidbits about the recruit and he’d quiz her on the drive about the name of the recruit’s boyfriend or favorite movie.

His mother’s attention to detail stayed with him.

“We don’t recruit at our level, but you are still showing the guys that you care every single day, because if you don’t build a personal relationship with them, then it’s going to be hard to coach them hard,” Gaitley said.

Noon — ‘I try to be efficient in everything.’

Practice: “You want to give them two or three things that they’re going to be able to remember and translate,” Triano said.

In previous stops, Triano would list the team’s principles on the whiteboard with an addendum stating that any player who read the board could come into his office to collect $50. Few ever did.

Homework: Some coaches stayed in the building throughout the afternoon, working with players and watching film on upcoming opponents. Others resumed their personal lives, like picking up their children from school. Still, they would often text one another through the night.

“I think it happens a lot in our culture where it’s just, ‘I’m going to spend every waking moment thinking about basketball and watching every drop of film,’ ” Nored said. “And I could do that, but my daughter would be missing out on time with her dad, my wife would be missing out on time with her husband. And so they’re my priorities as well. And so I try to be efficient in everything that I do.”

Image“I love playing two games against the same team in such a short period,” Hornets Coach James Borrego said. “This is a great way to teach.”Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Friday Jan. 29

8:30 a.m. — ‘It’s always a good chess match.’

The defensive scout meeting was shorter than the previous day’s, a reinforcement of the principles heading into the rematch. “It’s the battle of the adjustments to a degree and what can win out,” said Iske, 44. “Can you prepare for their adjustments, and on the other side of it, what they might do ahead of time? I think it’s always a good chess match to a degree, and exciting because it reminds you of the playoffs.”

Afterward, the offensive coaches’ meeting included a 20-clip edit of how Indiana would most likely guard Charlotte on key plays, from screen-and-rolls to pin downs and dribble handoffs.

9 a.m. — ‘Vitamins’

To limit potential exposure to the virus, the Hornets bypass traditional team morning shootarounds in favor of individual sessions with coaches, called vitamins. “A big thing for us is our player development,” Triano said. “How are we going to get these guys better?”

Mitchell, 34, started his day working with Hayward on his ball-handling and finishing at the rim. Later, he would also work with Biyombo, P.J. Washington and Devonte’ Graham. The goal was for Hayward not to settle for midrange shots when there was a path to the basket.

Mitchell hopes Hayward’s free-throw attempts will soon rival his career high of 6.1 during the 2014-15 season. He’s averaging 4.8 per game this season.

“It’s almost to the point now where he’s pointing out the opportunities more than it is me,” Mitchell said.

Noon — ‘I just like to cram some work in.’

The coaches filled the middle of the game day as they saw fit. Iske played a shooting game with Surenkamp before finishing his scout of the Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte’s opponent the following evening. Some, like Triano and Mitchell, took a brief nap, after having watched film late the previous night.

Friedman squeezed in another workout before preparing for his next scout. “It’s hard for me to nap on game days,” he said. “I just like to cram some work in. It’s basketball at the end of the day, so you’re not really overworking yourself.”

4:30 p.m. — ‘The best version of himself’

Walk-through: The players and coaches gathered on the practice court for a walk-through of the night’s matchup. The session included an offensive breakdown, defensive scout and a review of plays. Then the assistants worked on the court with players, pulling some aside to watch quick video clips.

Friedman played a short montage for guard Terry Rozier of his first start of the 2017-18 season, when he was with Boston. It was a triple-double effort against the Knicks. “It’s more for helping him envision the best version of himself right before we play,” Friedman said.

7:10 p.m. — Tipoff vs. Indiana

The Hornets won the rematch, 108-105. “We made more plays down the stretch than we did the night before,” Borrego said, adding: “And I love this setup. I love playing two games against the same team in such a short period. This is a great way to teach.”