In light of the sexual harassment and overall work misconduct that took place around the Dallas Mavericks organization surfacing, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sent a memo to each of the league’s 30 teams surrounding the issues titled “Respect the Workplace”.
According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the memo highlights the league’s “commitment to providing employees with a safe and inclusive work environment”, including a statement on the league launching a hotline to report similar issues of misconduct:
“Next week, the NBA will launch a confidential hotline available to all league and team employees to report any concerns arising in the workplace, including but not limited to sexual harassment, illegality, or other misconduct. Specific information relating to the hotline and a form of announcement that we will ask teams to send to all employees will be provided to you shortly.”
The league had previously sent out an updated Respect the Workplace Policy, highlighting league-wide expectations:
“Earlier this month, we sent to teams an updated model Respect in the Workplace Policy for review and potential adoption. By March 6th, we are asking teams to complete that review, assess any other team policies related to respect in the workplace, ensure they reflect best practices, and send copies of all such updated policies to the league office.”
The Dallas Mavericks started an investigation after Jon Wertheim and Jessica Luther of Sports Illustrated reported the years of sexual assault allegations of Dallas Mavericks’ former CEO Terdema Ussery and beat writer Earl K. Sneed over the course of nearly two decades. The NBA will closely monitor this investigation, and this decision to launch a hotline to report future issues shows their dedication to ending the misogyny that the league deems ‘unacceptable’.