JORDAN-CHRISTOPHER PURVIS
Special to The Leader
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is receiving backlash due to the developed findings surrounding sexual harassment inside Mavericks corporate workplace over the course of 20 years.
The story first emerged when Sports Illustrated Executive Editor John Wertheim received a tip regarding former and current Mavericks employees working in a hostile work environment, ranging from sexual harassment to domestic violence.
Wertheim published the story back in February, and since then it has brought a tremendous amount of concern from people involved in the sports community.
In Wertheim’s report “Inside the Corrosive Workplace Culture of the Dallas Mavericks,” he describes the workplace environment as toxic.
Wertheim worked hand in hand with investigative reporter Jessica Luther to unfold the truths on what was actually going on inside the Mavericks workplace. Both were able to examine several documents and conduct interviews with employees within the Mavericks organization.
As a result, it was obvious that these allegations were indeed true. This stems from incidents between female employees feeling fearful around their male counterparts. Most importantly, incidents happened between female employees and Terdema Ussery, former Dallas Mavericks team president and CEO, former team beat writer Earl Sneed, and sales employee Chris Hyde.
“As the woman sat down, the team president and CEO, Terdema Ussery, asked if he could join her. She grew nervous, not because Ussery was her boss’s boss, or because he was one of the most prominent figures in the Dallas sportscape. It was because his reputation as a serial sexual harasser of women preceded him.”
Ever since the information had been brought to light seven months ago, the National Basketball Association had conducted their own investigation into the matter. Two weeks ago the NBA released the findings of their investigation.
“The findings of the independent investigation are disturbing and heartbreaking and no employee in the NBA, or any workplace for that matter, should be subject to the type of working environment described in the report,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We appreciate that Mark Cuban reacted swiftly, thoroughly and transparently to the allegations in Sports Illustrated. Including the immediate hiring of Cynthia Marshall as CEO to set change.”
Sports analyst Stephen A. Smith expressed his thoughts on ESPN’s morning sports talk show “First Take,” discussing how Cuban should’ve been handled after the NBA’s investigation.
“Mark Cuban should’ve been suspended for half the season. He should’ve been banned from NBA games, and the business of basketball. It also should’ve caused the Mavericks a first-round draft pick. Now that’s suffering the basketball team and we understand that. The basketball side didn’t have anything to do with the business side and obviously, it’s collateral damage that comes along with that. But when you are the owner, you’re not just the owner of the basketball side, you’re the owner of the business side as well,” said Smith.
Cuban immediately took actions to the incident by donating $10 million to women’s advocacy groups. Donating that vast amount of money wasn’t a sign of Cuban trying to toss the situation under the rug. It was to demonstrate his focus on making sure that something of this magnitude doesn’t happen in the future.
“I didn’t know, and I don’t have an explanation,” Cuban said. “I can give you lots of reasons, but they don’t matter. What does matter is it was my responsibility, it didn’t happen, and I have to be accountable for it.” He later added, “In hindsight, it was staring me right in the face, and I missed it.”