Cauthen addressing the media (Facebook screengrab)
According to Joshua Primo’s therapist, the San Antonio Spurs rookie flashed his penis nine times during their private sessions. Though she said she reported her claims to Spurs management, the team didn’t issue any consequences until cutting him months after they ended her employment as the team’s performance psychologist.
That’s what Dr. Hillary Cauthen alleged in her November 3, 2022, lawsuit against Primo and the team, spurring the National Basketball Association to launch an investigation. The league’s inquiry, ironically, led commissioner Adam Silver to compliment her former employer. Silver told the press that the Spurs—who publicly disputed Cauthen’s “accuracy of facts, details and timeline” before reaching a settlement—“handled the situation in a very responsible way.” But, he also acknowledged that the league was pursuing “safeguards” to ensure situations like Cauthen wouldn’t happen again.
Joshua Primo | Getty
Nearly a year after Cauthen’s lawsuit, the NBA suspended Primo for four games for “exposing himself to women” after finishing a probe that “consulted with relevant experts.” eyeblack learned that according to Cauthen’s attorney, the NBA’s decision was news to her. Literally.
Tony Buzbee, the lawyer who represented Cauthen in her case against the Spurs, told eyeblack that NBA never contacted her about joining its probe, nor did Silver or any official inform her about those promised safeguards.
“The league never even asked to speak to her,” said Buzbee. “We made her available, [the NBA] never responded.” Buzbee’s claim, if true, marked the second time in the last three years that the NBA was publicly criticized for ending an investigation without interviewing the woman who made the complaint.