NEWS: Donnie Nelson sues Dallas Mavericks

[Kammrath]

Yeah, I can’t believe the 52mm. Just no way. Of course, I’m wrong all the time. But I just can’t come to grips with these 2 things:

1. Cuban offered THAT much???

2. And then Donnie said NO???

Them dogs don’t hunt.

Is there any evidence the $52M is a real number?

[SkenfromLMF]

So timelines as I understand it regarding money:
Donnie turned down $60+ mil for 10 yrs as Pres. of Basketnall Ops
Countered with $70+ mil, and was approached regarding an NDA in the process... 
Then everything fell apart: Bob article, Rick left, Donnie relieved. Nico and Kidd brought on board.

Donnie was then approached with a severance for $50+ million which also included the NDA.  

Cue Don Henley's End of the Innocense where lawyers dwell on small details.

[cow]

Is there any evidence the $52M is a real number?

I started counting from zero this morning and I'm up to 31,560.  I'll let you know in a few years from now.

[F Gump]

Yeah, I can’t believe the 52mm. Just no way. Of course, I’m wrong all the time. But I just can’t come to grips with these 2 things:

1. Cuban offered THAT much???

2. And then Donnie said NO???

Them dogs don’t hunt.

"Yeah, I can’t believe the 52mm. Just no way."

The $52M offer doc was attached and filed as part of the lawsuit itself. You can read it. It's written as a "please sign here" doc, from MC/his companies. The cover email, when it was sent to Donnie's lawyer, is also attached and part of the filing.

I seriously doubt that they would be including bogus docs which were not real (or even a counterfeit doc) in that context. Do you think otherwise?

[Jmaciscool]

I started counting from zero this morning and I'm up to 31,560.  I'll let you know in a few years from now.

This cracked me up

[F Gump]

Is there any evidence the $52M is a real number?

It's explicitly in the offer, yes. In fact, there was a provision in which it would be $54M,not $52M (depending on whether the federal tax rate for 2022 was increased).

[Jommybone]

"Yeah, I can’t believe the 52mm. Just no way."

The $52M offer doc was attached and filed as part of the lawsuit itself. You can read it. It's written as a "please sign here" doc, from MC/his companies. The cover email, when it was sent to Donnie's lawyer, is also attached and part of the filing.

I seriously doubt that they would be including bogus docs which were not real (or even a counterfeit doc) in that context. Do you think otherwise?

No, I agree with your serious doubt. But I still don’t believe it. There has to be another explanation, no? (Or there isn’t and I’m wrong. Happens all the time, most recently in my NCAA bracket.)

Sken said a few posts ago that the 52 was a severance package. Is he wrong? That seems crazy high for what I think of as severance. But it’s easier to believe there are valuable components in an NBA exec’s severance package that I don’t know about than it to believe they offered that kind of dough for shutting up or that he said no to it.

[MFFL]

Maybe the $52m has something to do with buying out the Legends

[F Gump]

No, I agree with your serious doubt. But I still don’t believe it. There has to be another explanation, no? (Or there isn’t and I’m wrong. Happens all the time, most recently in my NCAA bracket.)

Sken said a few posts ago that the 52 was a severance package. Is he wrong? That seems crazy high for what I think of as severance. But it’s easier to believe there are valuable components in an NBA exec’s severance package that I don’t know about than it to believe they offered that kind of dough for shutting up or that he said no to it.

"Sken said a few posts ago that the 52 was a severance package."

Okay ... but isn't that what the lawsuit is, essentially, an allegation of wrongful termination that requests compensation for said termination? The wording of the 52M offer seems it was primarily an attempt to make the just-filed EEOC complaint disappear, which was filed about wrongful termination (alleging it was retaliation for pushing to implement justice in the workplace), and a complaint that MC alleges was just lies based on other lies.

I don't disagree with you that the 52M is puzzling and seems way contradictory actions to MC's stance that Donnie is just making up crap. Frankly, so does the 66M 10-year offer, if as MC alleges it was just a response to Donnie trying to blackmail the team based on a whole pack of lies.  

Here's what I see - both MC and Donnie know if this is all lies like MC says. They both know who is lying and who isn't, and they both know the other knows too. So how could MC be supposedly "blackmailed" into offers of 66 and 52, if as he says it was 100% just fiction made up all along, and both he and Donnie knew that? Those offers make no sense to me, for MC to make them if he is responding to pure fiction (as his response alleges). So if it isn't pure fiction like MC claims in his response, then MC is lying about that much, and who knows what else.

But -- that's only my reaction for now, and I'm with you in the feeling that there is way more that we will find out in time. We just don't know what we don't know. The rest of the story is still out there.

[F Gump]

Maybe the $52m has something to do with buying out the Legends

Nope. Nothing about the Legends in the offer. It was money offered in exchange for 'recant your EEOC complaint, we both say nice things about each other going forward (the wording is included in the doc), and you don't say anything else.'

[omahen]

Literally the #1 reason Cuban cites in the filing is Donnie’s poor job performance as GM.

That is true. But they were actually discussing the new 10 year contract not that long before. A thing that seemingly fell apart because of non basketball related stuff that was going on (either Donnie or MC version of it). So only after the things went bad because of other reasons, the basketball related stuff was brought up

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...4911620097

[khaled1987]

https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status...4911620097

His renewal makes more sense now.

"Yeah, I can’t believe the 52mm. Just no way."

The $52M offer doc was attached and filed as part of the lawsuit itself. You can read it. It's written as a "please sign here" doc, from MC/his companies. The cover email, when it was sent to Donnie's lawyer, is also attached and part of the filing.

I seriously doubt that they would be including bogus docs which were not real (or even a counterfeit doc) in that context. Do you think otherwise?

Damn

[Kammrath]

https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/...3094848514

[ItsGoTime]

The following story is 100% true.

In 2010, I attended a job fair for the Texas Legends at Dr. Pepper Arena.  I was already employed, but saw this as an opportunity to see what positions were available and gage the potential, however remote it was, at starting on the ground floor of a basketball franchise.

After arriving I realized this was essentially just two lines of people dropping off resumes and that the Legends were really only looking for people to sell tickets on commission or be vendors during games. I wasn't interested in either, but, "No harm, no foul", it was interesting to just explore. In fact, Mike Fisher was there and I introduced myself as both my regular name and as "Rasheed". If you know our adversarial history, it was a funny ten seconds.

However, just as I had dropped off my resume and was preparing to leave, Donnie Nelson came in. Quickly, I noticed he was much taller than I realized, which was heightened by the cowboy boots he was wearing. Donnie was chatting with a fellow executive and a couple of other applicants. I am never one to shy away from meeting new people so I introduced myself.

For the next few minutes we chatted. He asked me about my experience and I gave him some information about a bar I had owned and had recently sold. It was then that he said, "You know, you are really good looking." I smiled, took it as a quick compliment and let it roll off (I don't say this to be cocky, but in my past I've modeled and been told this before.)

The four of us continued talking about basketball and business, when, suddenly, Donnie interjected, "No, you're like really good looking." The conversation stopped awkwardly for a moment, but continued on. Then about a minute later Donnie looked at me and said, "I mean, you look like a movie star."  It was at this point that it was just weird.  This, after all, was essentially a job interview and there was no place for the repeated comments.   Hey, had this just been at a "Fan Jam" and we were just hanging out, then cool. If we were just two guys at a bar, that's cool as well.  But it was out of place and, by the third comment, I could see the others thought so as well.

Do I feel like I missed out on a job because of how this conversation may or may not have gone? No.  But it was certainly odd and, as the Mavericks repeated history of harassment has come out over the years, that conversation has always played in my head. If Donnie was as casual with comments like that and he was in a leadership position, what example does that set?  Again, as someone who's owned a business, I would NEVER make repeated comments on someone's appearance.

Hey, you can take or leave this story, but I just thought I'd finally share this.

You ARE really freakishly good looking!

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

You ARE really freakishly good looking!

I guess that's something you and Donnie agree on, even if he was creepy when he said it.

[Jommybone]

RBWS, not sure how to respond, but here goes. When I was 22 and in need of cash, I signed up for a pharma study that was 24/7 for something like 10 days. On the first day they were just qualifying us all, and I got to know a few of my cohorts while waiting in line to get poked and prodded. 

After about 6 hours of that, I came back from my one-on-one visit with the study doc. I told one of my new amigos something like, “That wasn’t much fun.” And he said something non-committal back.  So I got more specific and said, “I really didn’t enjoy the rectal exam.” He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “They gave you a rectal exam?” I replied, “They didn’t give you a rectal exam???!!!”

So my “buddy” goes up and down the waiting line, “Did they give you a rectal exam?” “You?” “You?”

Nope, just me.

I went and asked at the nurse’s station why I was the only one who got a rectal exam. She said she’d ask the doctor. 5 mins later she came out and announced that I was dismissed from the study and that the doctor was “coming back to give everyone a rectal exam.”

I got the hell out fast as I could while my compatriots stared daggers at me from all directions. 

No joke. Kansas City. 1991.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

RBWS, not sure how to respond, but here goes. When I was 22 and in need of cash, I signed up for a pharma study that was 24/7 for something like 10 days. On the first day they were just qualifying us all, and I got to know a few of my cohorts while waiting in line to get poked and prodded. 

After about 6 hours of that, I came back from my one-on-one visit with the study doc. I told one of my new amigos something like, “That wasn’t much fun.” And he said something non-committal back.  So I got more specific and said, “I really didn’t enjoy the rectal exam.” He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “They gave you a rectal exam?” I replied, “They didn’t give you a rectal exam???!!!”

So my “buddy” goes up and down the waiting line, “Did they give you a rectal exam?” “You?” “You?”

Nope, just me.

I went and asked at the nurse’s station why I was the only one who got a rectal exam. She said she’d ask the doctor. 5 mins later she came out and announced that I was dismissed from the study and that the doctor was “coming back to give everyone a rectal exam.”

I got the hell out fast as I could while my compatriots stared daggers at me from all directions. 

No joke. Kansas City. 1991.

Crazy.  I think the common denominator is people become intoxicated by their power positions and do or say things they otherwise wouldn't, or get away with it because of their authority.

The worst part of your story is that by you telling someone of his unethical behavior, the doctor, the perpetrator, is rewarded by getting to finger bang a room full of other people.  Meanwhile, because you told, there's a room full of guys who wrongly hate you for putting them in the same position.

It's maddening.

[ItsGoTime]

I think the fans should sue MC for offering Donnie another 10 years to manage the crap show!

[Jommybone]

Crazy.  I think the common denominator is people become intoxicated by their power positions and do or say things they otherwise wouldn't, or get away with it because of their authority.

The worst part of your story is that by you telling someone of his unethical behavior, the doctor, the perpetrator, is rewarded by getting to finger bang a room full of other people.  Meanwhile, because you told, there's a room full of guys who wrongly hate you for putting them in the same position.

It's maddening.

I prefer to think he had some medical reason for the finger. But if not, hey, it beats living in Mariupol.