The Mavericks may be in danger of having a first-round pick taken away in the wake of their workplace misconduct allegations, writes Matt Mosley of The Dallas Morning News. With a series of high-profile sex scandals dominating the news in recent months, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will want to make a strong statement against the behavior that was reportedly taking place in the Mavericks’ team office, Mosley reasons.
Mosley suggests owner Mark Cuban may have to remove himself from the team for a while in an act of contrition as a way to prevent the draft pick from being lost. He adds that “massive changes” will likely be needed in the organization to make sure the behavior that resulted in the allegations is never repeated.
There’s more news today out of Dallas:
- The Mavericks have hired two independent investigators from the Krutoy Law Firm in New York to examine the organization, the team announced in an email. Evan Krutoy spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and served as Acting Deputy Bureau Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit. Anne Milgrim is a former Attorney General of New Jersey and a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law. They will be conducting confidential interviews with all Mavericks staff members, along with former employees who want to add their input to the investigation, the email states.
- Cuban tells Tim MacMahon of ESPN it was a “horrible mistake in hindsight” not to fire former Mavs.com reporter Earl K. Sneed after two domestic violence incidents. Cuban decided to terminate Sneed in advance of the Sports Illustrated report after learning the “gruesome details” involving a 2011 domestic dispute. The magazine shared a Dallas police report saying that Sneed’s girlfriend at the time suffered a fractured right wrist in the altercation and had bruises on her arms and chest. “I want to be clear: I’m not putting the blame on anybody else,” Cuban said. “It came down to my final decision that I made.”
- Cuban’s reputation of being thoroughly involved with the team makes it difficult to believe he was unaware of what was going on in the main office, writes Kevin Sherrington of The Dallas Morning News. That’s especially true in the case of former executive Terdema Ussery, Sherrington adds, whose alleged conduct was a key part of the Sports Illustrated story. The columnist notes that the Mavericks conducted their own investigation of Ussery in 1998, two years before Cuban bought the team, which resulted in new guidelines on interoffice conduct.
Time to sell the team, Marc.
This is horrific and has no place in any organization. Zero tolerance on this type of behavior should be allowed. That being said, taking away a first round draft pick seems out of line. Dennis Rodman played for the Mavs. Lamar Odom played here as well. So did Roy Tarpley. The list of bad seeds is not much different than what other franchises have experienced.
Move over to the Rangers. What about when Josh Hamilton took shots off girls stomachs. What about the players who have done steroids. Same with the Cowboys, the list of which is way too long.
Excuse none of these, but sports is full of bs actions. Send a message to the Mavs, but a first round draft pick seems out of line compared to what has happened over the history of the NBA and other sports.
You’re talking about players, they’re talking about the front office and their treatment of women inside and out of the office. This is more similar to what the Knicks organization went through back when Isaiah Thomas was there. People will be fired, Cuban keeps the team.
Out of the blue villain named Sneed takes out popular but outspoken owner, the same day said owner gets fined for being honest about being a bad team.
ON RUSEV DAY