#Mavericks slam Sports Illustrated report over sexual assault allegation

The Dallas Mavericks fired back at report detailing a sexual assault allegation against director of player personnel Tony Ronzone.

Over two years since the Mavericks were accused by team employees of widespread sexual misconduct and misogyny, Sports Illustrated on Wednesday reported that the 55-year-old Ronzone was accused of committing sexual assault last summer while in Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League.

Ronzone, who allegedly forced himself upon a female and groped her in his hotel room after luring her to Las Vegas with the promise of game tickets at the time, remains with the organization because “there was no evidence presented of sexual assault,” Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall told the publication.

Ronzone, 55, denied the accusations through his lawyers.

The Mavericks, who conducted an internal investigation following the 2018 accusations in which owner Mark Cuban was found by the NBA to not be paying enough attention to the culture of his franchise, criticized the report as “one-sided, incomplete and sensational.”

Sports Illustrated in Wednesday’s story reported that multiple people were willing to give sworn affidavits to the Mavericks, supporting the alleged victim’s claim, but the team did not take the opportunity to review those statements. A team lawyer claimed the accuser “refused to provide those declarations to the Mavericks and to us unless certain conditions were agreed upon—conditions that went well beyond protecting the identity of the individuals who executed those affidavits or statements.”

“The Mavs take all allegations of sexual assault extremely seriously and reminded SI of the ZERO-TOLERANCE policy put in place in March of 2018 that includes zero-tolerance of misconduct of any kind such as sexual assault, sexual harassment, bullying, false allegations, etc,” the team said in a statement. “The Mavs, in pursuit of truth since the allegations were first made in September 2019, are appalled that Sports Illustrated reported a story, knowing the Mavs were not provided all of the purported evidence.

“….It is abundantly clear from the communications between the [law] firm and the alleged victim described in the article that they never intended on giving the Mavs the information unless the Mavs came to the negotiating table to discuss a settlement. If this was truly a matter of establishing her credibility — particularly in light of the alleged victim’s contemporaneous text messages, some of which were cited in the article — the alleged victim or her attorneys could have sent the redacted sworn affidavits without strings attached.”

One sworn statement came from an NBA security consultant, who formerly served as a Homeland Security federal agent. The accuser allegedly called him after the incident in Ronzone’s room.

“I work with victims all the time,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I have no reason not to believe her.”

The Mavericks reported the allegation to the NBA in November — a requirement stemming from the 2018 investigation. It is unclear if the league concluded its investigation.

Following the 2018 investigation, Cuban donated $10 million to women’s organizations and issued public apologies