NEW YORK – NBA commissioner Adam Silver had a tough decision to make when meting out punishment for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Following a scathing independent report which detailed workplace misconduct that included sexual harassment, domestic violence and inappropriate behavior, Silver had to determine what the penalty should be, including the possibility of a suspension.

Silver instead asked Cuban to make a $10 million donation to “organizations that are committed to supporting the leadership and development of women in the sports industry and combating domestic violence.”

So why wasn’t Cuban suspended? Why not make Cuban feel the pain of not being able to participate in the thing he enjoys most about being an owner?

Silver, who addressed reporters at the conclusion of NBA owners meetings Friday, provided three key reasons:

Mavericks transparency, cooperation

Following the Sports Illustrated story detailing some of the workplace misconduct, Cuban hired two experienced attorneys – Evan Krutoy and Anne Milgram – to investigate. Cuban was interviewed for an entire day and then a portion of a day on two other occasions.

“I've been with this organization for 26 years, I was a practicing attorney before then, and I cannot think of any situation where somebody was more transparent and more forthcoming, more accepting of responsibility than Mark was in this situation,” Silver said.

Quick to make changes

Cuban fired and suspended people, launched an investigation and hired longtime AT&T executive Cynthia Marshall as new CEO.

“Beyond even the transparency and the remorse and the acceptance of responsibility, the speed in which changes were made,” Silver said. “And again, I would say from experience, there was no, in essence, lawyering up and saying, well, ‘I'm going to have to do the following things before I start making changes.’ ”

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Marshall implemented policy change and hired two human resources executives. Before Marshall’s arrival, the Mavs had no women in senior executive roles. Now, 50% of senior execs are women in business operations.

“She was given a very specific charge by Mark, in essence to fix his organization,” Silver said. “He didn't give her a budget, he didn't give her any sacred cows and she went to work. And it's quite amazing the transformation that's happened over the last seven months."

$10 million significant amount

According to the NBA’s constitution and bylaws, Silver can fine an owner a maximum of $2.5 million, but he went to Cuban and told him $10 million would be an appropriate amount. Cuban didn’t have to make that donation, but he did without trying to bargain for a lower number. It is a fine by another name.

“I will say that now just speaking to the dollar amount, that $10 million is an enormous amount of money in terms of the good it can do to help further the cause of women in industry, women in sports, education around domestic violence and other critically important issues,” Silver said.

“I also can tell you just in the last two days since we first announced the $10 million payment, we in the league office have heard from tens of organizations and many who we already have relationships with, who are saying $100,000 would make a huge impact to the work we're doing.”

Silver acknowledged it is an arbitrary figure.

“So, $10 million is an awful lot of money and I accept that I can't sit here and say how that is going to change Mark Cuban's life, but I know I deal with lots of wealthy people, $10 million is still a lot of money,” Silver said.

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