Report: Tony Ronzone Fired by Mavericks After 2020 Sexual Assault Allegation
The Dallas Mavericks reportedly fired Tony Ronzone from his position as the team's director of player personnel.
Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reported the news Monday, noting the timing of the firing remains unclear and governor Mark Cuban and CEO Cynthia Marshall declined to comment.
In July 2020, Jessica Luther and Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated reported a woman said Ronzone sexually assaulted her. The Mavericks cleared him in the aftermath of the allegation, but Townsend reported the decision to fire him came after the team "learned new information pertaining to the alleged incident."
The woman said that Ronzone groped her and threw her onto a bed in a Las Vegas hotel in 2019.
Townsend noted the former Mavericks executive denied the allegation, while the team "released a scathing 800-word rebuttal, in which the franchise detailed results of what it said was a six-month investigation into the complaint" and questioned the reporting.
The report followed a 2018 one from Luther and Wertheim that detailed the team's "corrosive workplace culture" and included accounts from more than a dozen current and former employees who described sexual harassment, domestic violence and more.
According to Townsend, the Mavericks fired multiple executives following a seven-month investigation that stemmed from the 2018 report.
As for Ronzone, he was a scout for the Mavericks from 1997 to 2000 before joining the Detroit Pistons. He also became the assistant general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves for two seasons during his career but had been the Mavericks' director of player personnel since 2012.
