Mavericks team photographer fired amid new sexual harassment allegations, per report

The Dallas Mavericks are still dealing with a lengthy Sports Illustrated report that was published last February.

That story that exposed a culture of sexual harassment within the organization’s business operations.

In response, owner Mark Cuban ordered an independent investigation to more fully understand what all had transpired.

Last month, Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall and Anne Milgram, a special counseler from Lowenstein Sandler LLP, released the team investigation’s full findings.

The NBA also required Cuban and the organization to comply with several league mandates. The full contents of those edicts can be found here.

But both inquiries did not include at least one individual.

Last Friday, The Dallas Morning News reported that several sources revealed that Danny Bollinger, a team photographer, also allegedly committed acts of sexual harassment at the workplace. According to that report, five women within the organization made accusations against Bollinger.

On Sunday, sources told the Morning News reported that Bollinger had been fired by the organization.

“Four former female Mavericks employees, who spoke to The News on the condition of anonymity, said Bollinger had a history of propositioning female co-workers and making lewd comments in the workplace,” the Morning News report said.

Those same sources also said the investigation into Bollinger’s alleged conduct began the same day that the franchise held a press conference that revealed the findings of the months-long investigation into the allegations described by Sports Illustrated.

Bollinger had previously worked in the Mavericks’ marketing department for over 18 years.

This past February, Sports Illustrated published a large expose detailing a decade-plus-long culture of sexual misconduct, with one employee describing the office environment as the film “Animal House.”

Former Mavericks president and CEO Terdema Ussery allegedly sexually harassed multiple female employees over the years and helped create a culture “rife with misogyny and predatory sexual behavior,” according to the report.

Ussery remained with the team through 2015.

In addition, the report revealed that the Mavericks permitted team beat writer Earl K. Sneed to remain on staff despite multiple allegations of domestic violence. Sneed was fired in February of 2018 after the Sports Illustrated report was published.

In response to the detailed report, Cuban hired Marshall, a former AT&T executive, as CEO. He also brought in Tarsha LaCour to be the senior vice president of human resources and Cyndee Wales to serve as the chief ethics and compliance officer.

During an ESPN interview in February, Cuban took the blame for what has transpired. In that interview, he also said he made a “horrible mistake” in keeping Sneed after learning of Sneed’s domestic violence history.

Several unnamed current and former team employees have claimed that former senior account executive Chris Hyde was also a major culprit of sexual harassment within the organization’s business office, according to a report from the Dallas Morning News.

Hyde, who was a 15-year employee of the franchise, allegedly watched porn on his phone and computer, touched himself inappropriately while doing so and showed co-workers obscene images of women on his cellphone.

Those team employees also said Hyde was the previously unnamed individual who left a used condom on the floor of the team’s office.

The organization also suspended their general manager of Mavs gaming, Roger Caneda. The reason for the suspension is that the franchise uncovered a racist tweet from 2016, an unnamed source told the Morning News.

This story was originally published October 8, 2018 at 7:00 AM.