Dallas Mavericks big man Dirk Nowitzki has been the face of the franchise for nearly two decades, and he is absolutely appalled at what allegedly has been transpiring behind the scenes.
A Sports Illustrated story detailed a real-life “Animal House” environment that was taking place in the front office of the NBA franchise, with former team president and CEOÂ Terdema Ussery and former in-house Mavs.com beat writer Earl K. Sneed being the main aggressors.
The Mavs’ locker room was regarded by one former employee as one of the few safe places, and Nowitzki — who has played for Dallas since the 1998-99 season — had the chance to respond to the troubling news.
“It’s tough,” Nowitzki said after Thursday’s practice, via ESPN. “It’s very disappointing. It’s heartbreaking. I’m glad it’s all coming out. I was disgusted when I read the article, obviously, as everybody was. I was shocked about some of the stuff.”
Nowitzki added that he believes the team’s owner, Mark Cuban — who has asserted he had no knowledge of the inappropriate conduct — will do the right thing in response, but the 39-year-old first expressed further disappointment in the organization.
“So really, really disappointed that our franchise, that my franchise, that stuff like that was going on,” Nowitzki said. “It’s very sad and disappointing. But I think (Cuban) is trying to step up and lead this franchise to the right direction, and that is hiring investigators, finding out all the little details that we have to know as a franchise what really was going on. I think Mark is going to step up here.
“As a franchise, obviously, we feel bad for the victims and for what happened to some of these ladies. Like I said, it’s truly, truly disgusting. Our thoughts and prayers are definitely with some of these victims.”
