Mavericks release statement on Sports Illustrated article about workplace misconduct

Well, this is upsetting.

The Mavericks have released a statement from Mark Cuban confirming a former employee had been inappropriate toward women before leaving the Mavericks three years ago.

The Mavericks released the statement in advance of an upcoming Sports Illustrated story that will apparently reveal these details. According to the Mavs’ statement, the “former officer” left the Mavericks three years ago and the Mavs found out about the misconduct recently — “in the past days” according to the statement.

In addition to this, the Mavericks have confirmed that an employee who was in charge to investigate and receive complaints like this has been suspended pending a conclusion to an investigation into the matter. The Mavericks said they have contacted the league about the incident and have hired an independent third-party to conduct its own investigation.

The bad news continues as the Mavericks additionally confirmed in a matter separate from the former officer’s misconduct, another team employee “misled the organization about a prior domestic violence incident” and has been fired. The Mavericks said this employee was “not candid about the situation.”

No more details have come out yet and the Mavericks said they will not comment further until the independent investigation is complete.

We’ll update this story if there are any additional details.

Here’s the full statement:

The Dallas Mavericks issue the following statement on an upcoming Sports Illustrated article:

The Dallas Mavericks have received information about behavior in our workplace that appears to have violated the organization’s standards of conduct. It has been alleged that a former officer of the organization engaged in various acts of inappropriate conduct toward women over a period of years. This individual left the employment of the Mavericks nearly three years ago and the Mavericks have only learned of the scope of these complaints in the past days.

The Mavericks organization takes these allegations extremely seriously. Yesterday we notified the league office and immediately hired outside counsel to conduct a thorough and independent investigation. The investigation will focus on the specific allegations related to this former employee, and will look more broadly at our company’s workplace practices and policies. In addition, an employee whose job was to receive and investigate such complaints and report them accurately and fully, has been suspended pending the conclusion of our investigation.

In a separate matter, we have also learned that an employee misled the organization about a prior domestic violence incident. This employee was not candid about the situation and has been terminated.

There is no room for such conduct in the Mavericks’ workplace—or any workplace.

The Mavericks will provide all necessary resources to ensure that every current and former employee receives appropriate support. We will also conduct comprehensive training through experts and take the necessary steps to ensure that our workplace is a safe, respectful and productive one for all Dallas Mavericks employees. We are committed-- to our employees, our team and our fans-- to meet the goals of dignity, security and fairness that define the Dallas Mavericks.

We will not make any further comments until after the completion of the investigation.

UPDATE: Sports Illustrated has released its piece, which is titled “Exclusive: Inside the Corrosive Workplace Culture of the Dallas Mavericks.” You can read it here, and we will have further comment on it in a separate piece shortly.