NBA: Harassment at work at the Mavs – League publishes ruthless statement

The League has published its results from the investigation of the Dallas Mavericks in a statement. The reason was a February 2018 report by Sports Illustrated in which the Mavs were accused of multiple sexual harassment of women in the workplace.

Owner Mark Cuban will donate $10 million to programs that fight domestic violence and support women in the world of sports, according to the NBA. The maximum fine the NBA could have imposed would have been only $2.5 million.

The NBA report noted that there have been numerous incidents of sexual harassment and other inappropriate treatment of women within the organization over the past 20 years. The former president and CEO of the Mavs, Terderma Ussery, had been involved in 15 cases according to the statement. He repeatedly made inappropriate comments, touched women and kissed them against their will.

A former ticketing employee, Chris Hyde, on the other hand, had made inappropriate offensive comments to women, shared pornographic images and videos, and had also become physical to employees. The former writer of mavs.com, Earl Sneed, on the other hand, had twice become conspicuous with domestic violence.

“The results of this independent investigation are disturbing and heartbreaking,” Commissioner Adam Silver is quoted in the League statement. “No NBA employee or elsewhere should be present in such a work environment as the investigations have shown. We are especially grateful to Mark Cuban for reacting so quickly and transparently to the Sports Illustrated report. He quickly made it clear that he is ultimately responsible for the culture and behavior of his employees.”

But the $10 million donation is not enough for the Mavs. In the future, the franchise will be required to recruit more women, conduct anonymous employee surveys and support the victims of harassment.

Cuban was already a guest on ESPN’s TV show The Jump and once again deeply regretted the events. “I have to apologize again to the women and their families,” explained the owner of the Mavs. “I’m just sorry. I didn’t see it and I didn’t notice it. I didn’t know, and I have no explanation for it. I’m solely responsible for that.”

The complete report of the independent law firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP is available here.