Through his crazy stunts and controversial rants, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has established himself as one of the wildest personalities in the NBA. But Cuban's most recent comments about NBA players using human growth hormone may top all of his previous antics.

If there's one universal taboo across professional sports, it's athletes using steroids and human growth hormone. Everybody knows that juicing can provide a huge edge over competitors. So to prevent athletes from being pressured to use steroids and/or HGH to keep up with the competition, stiff penalties are handed out for those caught with roids.

Given this fact, sports team owners don't exactly condone steroid usage. After all, who would want to go against 99.9 percent of the sports world and give juicing a vote of confidence? How about Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who thinks that HGH could have some big benefits for NBA players. Let's take a closer look at this controversial opinion including why Cuban thinks HGH is a viable option.

Speedy Recovery

The NBA regular season is a grueling affair which sees each team play 82 games. And teams that make the postseason can play 15-20 games or more on top of this. With such a long season, it's not surprising that most players suffer at least one or two injuries throughout the year. This is where Cuban's opinion on HGH comes into play...

No, the Mavericks head man doesn't think that players should use growth hormone to pack on more muscle and improve athletic performance. Instead, he thinks that using HGH could help players recover from injuries faster and get back onto the court. But it's worth mentioning that Cuban isn't completely sold on basketball players being allowed to use growth hormone.

"The issue isn't whether I think it should be used," Cuban said. "The issue is that it has not been approved for such use. And one of the reasons it hasn't been approved is that there have not been studies done to prove the benefits of prescribing HGH for athletic rehabilitation or any injury rehabilitation that I'm aware of. The product has such a huge (public) stigma that no one wants to be associated with it."

Mark Cuban is a guy who's been fined a collective $1.67 million for everything from cursing at opposing players to rushing onto the court during a game. But when he speaks about the league taking a serious look at HGH to speed up injury recover times, he definitely makes sense. Despite Cuban offering a good argument for the further study of HGH, it's a wonder if his reasoning will fall on deaf ears.

A Tough Decision

Even if the NBA does take Cuban's opinion on HGH studies seriously, there are some obvious hurdles to clear before anything happens on this front. For starters, the Food & Drug Administration imposes very strict limits on who's allowed to use growth hormone. This limited group includes kids with stunted growth, people with a bowel syndrome, certain hormone deficiencies, or muscle-wasting associated with HIV. On the other hand, it's illegal to use HGH for anti-aging, building muscles and boosting athletic performance.

Aside from the legality of the situation, the NBA would certainly have its reservations about allowing HGH usage. As some bodybuilders know, growth hormone has some nasty potential side effects like higher cholesterol levels, an elevated risk of cancer and nerve pain. Players would then have to make a very difficult decision: risk the side effects and get back on the court quicker, or not take HGH and miss out on an advantage that other players have.

Despite the obstacles standing in the way of NBA players using growth hormone, Cuban isn't backing down on his belief that the subject needs to be studied. In fact, he believes that other sports organizations should also take a close look at what HGH could do for players.

"I believe that professional sports leagues should work together and fund studies to determine the efficacy of HGH for rehabbing an injury," he said. "Working together could lead us from the path of demonizing HGH and even testosterone towards a complete understanding. It could allow us to make a data-based decision rather than the emotional decision we are currently making. And if it can help athletes recover more quickly, maybe we can extend careers and have healthier happier players and fans."

Again, what Cuban is preaching about in regard to quicker recovery times and longer sports careers sounds good. If only he had thrown something in his statements about bodybuilders being able to use HGH for recreational use, I would think the guy was TOTALLY cool. But suggesting that pro athletes can use this substance for any reason at all is highly controversial to a sports league. So maybe it's too soon to think that the NBA or any other organization would consider allowing HGH use by players.