Mark Cuban’s NBA Team Debuts on Former GM’s Explosive Suit

Mark Cuban’s NBA team has protested an explosive lawsuit filed this week by their former general manager, who alleged he was terminated last year after telling the billionaire that a team executive sexually harassed and assaulted his nephew.

In the group’s separate filing on Friday, Cuban lawyers denied those claims and alleges that former Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson threatened to leak information including information, including bias sexual orientation of a team member, unless he warrants “in fact, an extortion” of up to $100 million.

Nelson’s lawsuit, filed Thursday, brings some serious allegations against both Cuba and the Mavericks — which already faced accusations of a “corrosive work culture” after 2018. Sports Illustrated investigation.

The central allegation in Nelson’s lawsuit relates to the 2020 All Star weekend in Chicago. According to the lawsuit, several of the group’s executives gathered for the event, including Cuba’s “right-hand man,” Jason Lutin.

Nelson’s grown-up grandson seemed interested in pursuing work in the worlds of sports and entertainment, so he and Lutin had lunch with other members of the Nelson family to discuss the future. career aspirations, the lawsuit said.

Later, however, Lutin is said to have invited the unnamed nephew back to his hotel room, ostensibly to talk about potential jobs. Instead, according to Nelson’s statement, he sexually harassed and assaulted him. The filings do not provide details about the alleged misconduct.

Nelson testified that his grandson eventually reported Lutin to the Mavericks and got a resolution from “Cuban and the Mavericks” so the issue “could be swept across the rug” – but the superintendent said he was not informed. report it.

Lutin did not respond to text messages from The Daily Beast, though on Thursday he called the allegations “complete lies” in an email to ESPN. “What this man [Nelson] doing with someone like me is completely unpredictable,” he added.

Nelson’s lawsuit claims that he eventually learned of the alleged attack and confronted the Cubans several times about the situation.

He asserted that their relationship then developed and the Cubans “suddenly fired” him, although the billionaire ultimately offered him a $52 million settlement if he withdrew his complaint with the Commission. Equal Employment Opportunity and agreed to certain confidentiality requirements, the lawsuit said.

In the Mavericks legal response, the team offered a markedly different version of events.

According to the filing, Nelson approached the billionaire in the summer of 2020 with “intentionally scandalous allegations from a family member” that he said he could “”walk away” in exchange for a contract. long-term labor contract.”

The response said the allegation involved Nelson’s 29-year-old grandson. Cuban representatives asked Nelson to contact police if an assault had occurred, but the superintendent insisted that nothing happened, according to the filing.

The team then began conducting an investigation into the matter, Cuban lawyers wrote, with the cooperation of nearly all relevant Mavericks employees who provided the text message investigator.

“One curious exception is Nelson,” the filing said. It also states that the charges involving Nelson’s grandson are “not sensational” as the former GM has now stated in court documents and that no assault occurred. Cuban’s response, however, is not controversial that Nelson’s grandson received a financial settlement.

Cuban’s attorneys argued that Nelson’s dismissal had nothing to do with the situation but rather poor performance, a “redirection of his time and attention” to dozens of other business ventures, and unclear violations of the team’s personnel policy.

Last November, following the termination of the contract, attorneys for Nelson sent the Mavericks a letter asking for a cash settlement, which they later quantified at $100 million or more, records said. If the team fails to comply, the ousted GM is said to have threatened to publicize information that could embarrass the team and other parties, including his former billionaire boss.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, one of Nelson’s attorneys, Rogge Dunn, sided with the original complaint.

“The Mavericks announced that in August 2020, Nelson approached Mark Cuban and said that ‘he could remove scandalous allegations from a family member’ in exchange for a long contract,” he wrote. term.

“If that allegation is true, the Mavericks will not continue to employ Nelson for another 10 months and will report his blackmail allegations to the police.”