The troubles return to Dallas Mavericks, at a time when the franchise is going through an optimal sports phase, the best in recent years: 43-26, fighting for fourth place in the West and home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. With Luka Doncic in a wonderful trance, at the level of fighting for the MVP (with the handicap of his discreet, by his standards, start of the season) and a happy result in bets that seemed risky such as the arrival of Jason Kidd on the bench or Spencer Dinwiddie to the team on the operation that got him out of the roster to Kristaps Porzingis. So far everything is fine, but problems in the offices resurface, an issue that seems constant in the last stage of the Mark Cuban regimethe owner of the team since 2000.
The situation had calmed down after the earthquake that followed the end of last season. The convulsive departure of Rick Carlisle, a coach who had become an institution in Dallas, and that of another essential classic in the history of the franchise: the executive Donnie Nelson. The arrival of Nico Harrison to take command of the offices, the rumors about Doncic’s influence in all these movements, the strange work and departure of Haralabos Voulgaris, Nelson’s collaborator who became Doncic’s enemy, the friction between the Slovenian and Porzingis… and, above all, the complaints and the investigation carried out by the League for a “culture of sexual harassment and machismo” sustained for years in the shadow of Mark Cuban and his command.
From this last matter comes a new scandal, uncovered by Don Van Natta Jr in ESPN: Donnie Nelson, who left the Mavs after 24 years in which he built, above all, the championship team in 2011, has sued the franchise because he assures that his dismissal was “a retaliation” for reporting that Jason Lutin, head of staff and Cuban’s right hand, sexually harassed and assaulted his nephew in a Chicago hotel, during the NBA All-Star 2020 and after quoting him in his room to, in theory, deal with labor matters. Nelson claims that Cuban offered him $52 million to settle and sign a confidentiality clause on that Lutin case in Chicago.
Cuban has already denied all of Nelson’s accusations through an email he has sent to ESPN: “It’s all lies. We investigated everything and the only person who didn’t measure up to our standards was Mr. Nelson. So he was fired. He was aware of the investigation and refused to fully participate in it. So I insist: everything that says it’s a lie. In another email, Lutin denies the facts of which Nelson accuses him and ensures that what the former franchise executive is doing to him “it’s something for which there are no words”. The NBA, through its spokesman, Mike Bass, assures that it was aware of the accusations against Lutin and the internal investigation that was being carried out. And, later, that Nelson was going to be fired.
The former general manager, son of legendary coach Don Nelson, says he did not know about Lutin’s problem in Chicago until five months later, when he was negotiating a new ten-year contract with the Mavericks. So, he says, he told the owner that Lutin “He was endangering the workers, the players and the entire Mavericks organization. His complaint refers to an email in which Cuban wrote him that before continuing with the negotiations he had to “know more about what was happening with the other matter. Because it has to do with what we are negotiating”. That issue, according to Nelson, would be the accusations against Lutin, whom Nelson’s brief describes as “a sexual predator”: “Cuban will have to take responsibility for not taking this matter seriously, repeatedly covering up and ignoring allegations against senior executives by Mavericks employees.”, Cuban prepared an initial offer of $66 million over ten years, which he then withdrew, then fired Nelson. The lawsuit asks why that offer of 52 million was made to close an agreement if the dismissal was, theoretically, for poor job performance.
According to Nelson, Lutin asked him to recommend that his nephew visit him to explore options about his future employment. That both were at a lunch organized by Nelson, of which there are images, but that later Lutin invited Nelson’s nephew, a young man between 20 and 30 years of age whose exact identity is unknown, to his hotel room for “discuss job options”. And that she there she asked him to sit next to him on the bed and harassed him “attempting to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman from the LGBT community who was looking for a job”. Cuban is accused of trying to keep cases like this from splashing out on him publicly and of not being as tough as he should be, according to the Mavericks’ own internal regime, and trying “settle confidentially and discreetly” this possible scandal.
The Mavs, for their part, have recalled in a public statement that there was an investigation into the events to which Nelson refers, that the NBA was aware of the steps that were taken and that it was determined that everything had been “manufactured”: “Mr. Nelson refused to cooperate with investigators. His accusation of being fired in retaliation is baseless and his claim is full of lies.”.
counterclaim
In response to Nelson, the Mavericks have also acted in court. They have filed a complaint for “extortion”. The reasons for this are the agreement that Nelson wanted to sign with the franchise in 2020, a long-term renewal that was discussed with Cuban and that after the events in Chicago was not on the table again. The Mavs accuse Nelson of creating “a scheme to extort them” and get about 100 million dollars from said strategy. Supposedly his plan was to hunt down that contract, extended for several years, to continue in the franchise and, additionally, not reveal the shady conflict with his nephew.