Mark Cuban Denies Sexual Assault Allegations, NBA Still Needs to Lead Mavs Investigation

Mark Cuban, in a three-word email to the Associate Press, denies the sexual assault allegations stemming from an alleged 2011 incident that emerged on Tuesday night, writing, “It didn’t happen.”

Cuban was accused, in a report in Willamette Week, of the following:

"The woman told police she encountered Cuban in late April at the Barrel Room, at 105 NW 3rd Ave., and asked him to pose with her for a photograph. While they smiled for the camera, she claimed, he thrust his hand down the back of her jeans and penetrated her vagina with his finger."

The accuser stood by her story when she was reached for comment by the publication. At the time, prosecutors declined to charge Cuban, indicating that there were no corroborating witnesses to the accuser’s allegations.

From a practical standpoint, it is very difficult to adjudicate these allegations. They happened 6-7 years ago, and it is one person’s word against another’s. However, if this suddenly turns into a cascade of allegations as has happened with many other prominent men in the #MeToo movement, then it goes without saying Cuban and the NBA would be embroiled in very problematic circumstances.

Either way, this should be a further trigger that the NBA, and not Cuban and the Mavericks, should be overseeing the independent investigation into SI’s reporting about serial workplace misconduct in the Mavs organization.