MIAMI – Former Utah guard Elijah Millsap said on Friday that he has not yet heard from any investigators about his claim that Jazz executive Dennis Lindsey made a prejudiced comment to him during a 2015 end-of-season meeting. .
Millsap also expressed doubts that a fair investigation could take place regarding his claim that Lindsey, who was then the team’s general manager and is now an executive vice president, threatened to cut off his “black ass” and send him home. .
Millap made the claim in a tweet on Wednesday. Jazz responded on Thursday, saying in a statement that it would bring in an outside lawyer to conduct a full investigation with the NBA.
“Obviously, I know my truth,” said Millsap in an interview with The Associated Press. “Some outside lawyer or somebody, all they can do is just try to shake it up and make it look like I’m lying. I did it basically to free myself from the torture of containing things, to free myself, not to make Dennis Lindsey feel bad and not to make him look racist. I don’t think he’s racist, but I know what he said to me. “
NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the league’s involvement on Friday.
“We take allegations of discrimination seriously, so we also take due process rights from those being accused, which is why we do thorough investigations,” said Silver. “And in this case, the investigation is being conducted in partnership and coordination with Utah Jazz.”
Millsap played 67 games for Jazz over two seasons. The incident in question came from a closing meeting in April 2015, which Millsap – the brother of long-time Utah detainee Paul Millsap – said was also attended by Jazz coach Quin Snyder.
General manager Justin Zanik, who at the time was an assistant general manager in charge of keeping detailed notes of the conversation, was also at the meeting, ESPN sources told Adrian Wojnarowski. These notes have been entered into a team database and will be examined as part of the investigation, the sources said.
Millsap said he remembers having “a lot of energy” going to that meeting and looking forward to hearing what Lindsey and Snyder would say to him.
“I expected great feedback,” said Millsap. “And then it got worse.”
Millsap said Lindsey told him, “If you say one more word, I’m going to cut off your black ass and send you back to Louisiana.”
Millsap met with reporters shortly after leaving the meeting with Snyder and Lindsey and showed no signs of being upset. He was released by Jazz in January 2016, the day before the rest of his contract for that season was secured, he said. These movements are not uncommon with unsecured deals.
Lindsey denied making the comment. Snyder said he does not remember what happened and defended Lindsey again on Friday, before Jazz played in Miami.
“I’ve never heard anything even remotely like this from Dennis,” said Snyder. “I didn’t hear anything, as I said, remotely close to that and I know him and his character. And I also think that if something like that were said, I am sensitive to these issues and I would remember that.”
Millsap appeared in just two more NBA games after Jazz dismissed him and said he believed the team did not speak well of him when other teams asked about his formation. He said he still trains several hours a day and would like to resume his playing career.
Millsap said he has no specific resolution to satisfy him in mind.
“These guys had the opportunity to tell people the truth about who I was,” said Millsap. “And they didn’t do that. This is disgusting to me.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.