The Dallas Mavericks responded Friday to a wrongful termination suit by Donnie Nelson, accusing the former longtime general manager of a "lengthy scheme to extort as much as $100 million" and saying the lawsuit was preceded by demands that he receive "in effect, a blackmail payment" in exchange for his promise not to expose the sexual orientation of owner Mark Cuban's chief of staff or make other claims to embarrass the team.
The official court response was to Nelson's claim that Cuban fired him last summer as retaliation for reporting that Cuban's "right-hand man" Jason Lutin had sexually harassed and sexually assaulted Nelson's nephew during a 2020 job interview.