A Sports Illustrated article last month revealed prevalent abuses that allegedly took place and focused attention on president and CEO Terdema Ussery, vice president of HR Buddy Pittman, and Mavs.com beat writer Earl Sneed, as the promoters of a "toxic culture." None of these individuals work for the professional basketball team anymore.

"Although we are in the early stages of our response, we've identified three immediate areas of focus: the investigation, culture transformation, and operational effectiveness," Marshall said late last month with Mavericks CEO Mark Cuban by her side. "Independent investigators are in the process of conducting interviews with current and former-we're covering both-current and former employees. The purpose of the interviews is to make sure all issues and allegations are surfaced and addressed. We need everything to come out. Allegations will be thoroughly investigated and any required disciplinary action will be administered swiftly."