Last month, Sports Illustrated published a blistering report after having interviewed more than a dozen former and current Dallas Mavericks employees detailing sexual misconduct and abuse that was allegedly rampant behind the scenes in the NBA organization. The atmosphere from within the front office corporate culture was described as “a real-life Animal House” rife with misogyny and predatory sexual behavior, while ironically, the team’s actual locker room was viewed as a safe haven for female employees.
Additionally, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban came under scrutiny for neglecting to part ways with Mavs’ beat writer Earl K. Sneed in the wake of two separate domestic abuse incidents that occurred at the office, who was employed with the organization up until the day the piece ran.
In a followup, Deadspin interviewed Mavericks employees who recalled even more horrific behavior, such as one employee who would supposedly watch porn at his desk and another incident in which a used condom was discovered outside an office bathroom door. They also spoke with new Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall, however, who was brought in from outside the organization just a week after the bombshell report published.
Going forward, Marshall will be running point on all non-basketball operations for the team, slamming the behavior uncovered by SI to be “completely unacceptable.” Lawyers hired by the Mavericks are currently conducting an independent investigation into the allegations of abuse, which Marshall admits that she “can’t afford to believe [is] all in the past,” but is hoping for change — as well as for more women to come forward.
“We owe it to these women who spoke up to address this properly and change the culture,” she said. “We owe it to them. We owe it to all of them.”
“I want to hear all the stories. I don’t care if they come out in the newspaper or in the investigation,” she told me. “The only way we can clean house is if we hear all the stories.”
It seems like a step in the right direction, anyway, even if the task won’t be easy. “It’s a culture that’s been around that long and with employees that have been around that long,” noted one anonymous employee. “It’s gonna take a lot to scrub it clean.”
(Via Deadspin)