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Robert Sarver has no business in the NBA or WNBA. Not in a year, not ever

The Suns franchisee has been suspended and fined. This is not enough.

Sep 14

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The Women Are Brave, Francisco Goya, 1810-20

The NBA released the long-awaited findings from its independent investigation into the behavior of Robert Sarver and the Phoenix Suns, an investigation sparked by a massive report from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes nearly a year ago. The upshot is that almost everything Holmes reported was substantiated by the investigation. As a result, the NBA fined Sarver $10 million and suspended him from league activities for a year.

So next year, in time for the 2023-24 NBA season, this guy will be back courtside, hollering at referees and opposing players.

The coach recalled that Sarver burst into his office after the October 2016 Warriors game and loudly said, “Why does [the Warriors player] get to say [N-word, N-word, N-word, N-word, N-word]?!” After the coach said, “You can’t f---ing say that,” Sarver replied, “I can’t say [N-word, N-word, N-word]?” A second witness present for the event recalled it in the same terms, and two other witnesses (one of whom heard Sarver and the coach arguing on the night in question) heard contemporaneous reports of the incident. In addition, as noted above, Sarver sent a contemporaneous email to the League office complaining about the officiating during the game, in which (among several examples of on-court actions that he contended were incorrectly officiated) he purported to quote the Warriors player as saying the N-word spelled out with an “a” at the end.

The investigators determined somehow that Sarver’s repeated use of the N-word over a decade and a half wasn’t due to any racial animus on the part of Sarver, just … I guess stupidity and entitlement? The findings don’t really explain why someone without racial animus would use the word so frequently in the workplace. Regardless of knowing what’s truly in Sarver’s heart, being so impressed with yourself that you refuse to listen to the people around you telling you to STOP USING THAT WORD shows a tremendous lack of judgment. Even in the coldest and most corporate terms possible, the NBA should be terrified of that man controlling one of the 30 franchises in a year or ever.

Yes, this man will be back in the executive offices, calling meetings and directing the operation of a multi-billion dollar franchise in 12 months.

In March 2011, Sarver “screamed at” a female employee to voice his displeasure about a video she had prepared for a departing team executive. One witness overheard Sarver loudly rebuking the female employee about the video. Another witness spoke to the female employee, who was in tears, shortly after Sarver reprimanded her. During the conversation, the female employee expressed a desire to leave the organization. According to witnesses, the female employee was “shaken” by the incident and told her supervisor about it shortly after it occurred.

Surely once Sarver was informed of the impact of his rebuke he was contrite and sought to atone for his outburst. Right?

Approximately one week later, Sarver visited the female employee’s office to discuss the video incident. Sarver entered the employee’s office, shut the door, and said in substance, “Why can’t we get along? What’s wrong with you?” When the female employee began to cry, Sarver then said in a raised voice, “Why do all the women around here cry so much?” Several witnesses heard Sarver yell at the employee. One witness, whose office was close to the female employee’s, heard the female employee “bawl” in response to Sarver’s yelling.

Oh. I’m not sure about this du—

Not long after the 2011 video incident, Sarver arranged a lunch between four female Suns employees and several female employees of Western Alliance Bank, the bank he oversaw as CEO. No men were invited to or attended the lunch. Two Suns attendees perceived Sarver’s arrangement of the lunch to be a response to the video incident described above, to reflect Sarver’s opinion that female Suns employees were insufficiently tough and/or “cry so much,” and was intended to enable the female bank employees to explain to the female Suns employees how to handle Sarver’s demands. The same attendees perceived the lunch as uncomfortable and demeaning.

This is monstrous human behavior. Plain and simple. This isn’t a hard-driving boss. This isn’t a Type A personality lacking in self-awareness. This is monstrous human behavior.

There’s also this.

Finally, Sarver asked players about their personal grooming habits. In one instance, during the 2009–10 season, Sarver entered the Suns training center and asked a player, who was lifting weights at the time, whether he shaved his testicles. One witness said that Sarver asked this question of each player one by one.

Do you know how hard you have to work to stand out as especially creepy when you’re a billionaire sports team owner?

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As the investigators write in the report, the NBA has broad authority to protect the league on matters that “adversely affect the league.” Hence the suspension and fine, the latter of which the NBA claims is the biggest amount that Commissioner Adam Silver can levy. (Needless to say, $10 million is not a significant expense for a business worth billions of dollars.)

The NBA previously used that broad authority to get Donald Sterling all the way out of here for complaining on tape to his girlfriend about her hanging out with Magic Johnson on account of his race. It’s becoming clear that was a one-time event and that Silver has no appetite for a court battle to eject another franchisee. Sterling was despised throughout the NBA. My sense is that Sarver is not well-loved by his peers and certainly not by the broader NBA community of players, agents and executives, especially now. But he isn’t despised enough for Silver to feel a mandate to get him out of there, and Silver is not willing to act boldly of his own accord without public pressure from the players or sponsors.

I am not experienced in matters of high-profile executive investigation, but it really appears as if the sanction on Sarver was negotiated between the league office and Sarver’s legal team. How can we tell? Here’s Sarver’s statement on the matter. Emphasis mine.

"While I disagree with some of the particulars of the NBA's report, I would like to apologize for my words and actions that offended our employees. I take full responsibility for what I have done. I am sorry for causing this pain, and these errors in judgment are not consistent with my personal philosophy or my values. I accept the consequences of the NBA's decision. This moment is an opportunity for me to demonstrate a capacity to learn and grow as we continue to build a working culture where every employee feels comfortable and valued."

Starting your statement about how you take “full responsibility” for your actions with “While I disagree” definitely makes your apology believable, hoss.

ESPN’s Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski report that Sarver felt the penalties were not justified and that phase of the investigation became acrimonious. This dude did all these horrible, stupid things; was revealed by whistleblowers talking to the media to have done these horrible, stupid things; called the whistleblowers and media liars; tried to influence and intimidate witnesses during the investigation; was found by independent investigators to have done the alleged horrible, stupid things; and is now “disagreeing” with some of the particulars of the findings and reportedly fighting his sanctions behind the scenes.

Get. Him. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here. All the way out.

You know who got Sarver the hell out of here during this investigation? Western Alliance Bancorporation, where Sarver was a board member since 2002 and the executive chairman since 2018. The initial reports about Sarver came out in November. Western Alliance opened an independent investigation into Sarver in January. Sarver “retired” in April. Now Sarver and Western Alliance can claim the retirement had nothing to do with the investigation or the Suns or anything. And we can choose to believe Robert Sarver after all of this. Or we can be real about what appears to have happened.

It’s pretty simple. That big regional banking company is out of the Robert Sarver business. He’s not coming back to the bank board in a year. Good for them. The NBA isn’t done with Sarver. He’s back in the same damn seat in the board room and courtside next season. That’s bad for the NBA. And the Suns. And Suns fans. And the Mercury. And Mercury fans. And obviously especially all the employees current and former impacted by Sarver’s monstrous behavior in the past.

One would hope to believe that when he returns to the fold in a year, Sarver will have learned how to treat people. But based on the scale and scope of the abuses reported in this investigation, based on his half-arsed apology and based on the fact that he’s 60 damn years old and was told repeatedly over at least the last 18 years that what he was doing hurt people, color me a skeptic.

Good on the NBA for pursuing a serious investigation into serious allegations. Good on the NBA for sanctioning a team owner for his actions. It’s just really too bad for everyone who had to suffer Sarver and will in the future have to suffer Sarver that Adam Silver no longer has the stomach to exact the ultimate penalty. It seemed at the beginning of his tenure as commissioner that Silver would be strong on matters like this — the Sterling affair was mere months after his ascension. Alas. He’s not.

Sarver does not belong in a leadership role in the NBA or WNBA. Not now, not in a year, not ever.

Scores

WNBA FINALS

Sun 71, Aces 85 (LVA leads 2-0) — And this series might be over. It felt like a Las Vegas blowout from the start as A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray remained On One and Kelsey Plum joined the party with some effective scoring and driving. Connecticut keep pulling close until Las Vegas eventually overwhelmed them.

Wilson finished with 26-10. That’s a record five straight 20-10 playoff games for A’ja. She’s incredible. She inspired Plumdog to “get her s—t together.” And she danced with Ja Morant after the win.

WNBA @WNBA

.@_ajawilson22 and @JaMorant at it again 😂 After the dub you gotta dance with bro 💃

One more NBA cameo. Becky Hammon invited Gregg Popovich, who was in attendance, into the locker room after the game. Great stuff.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

Coach Pop visited the @LVAces locker room after Game 2 🙌

Game 3 is Thursday in Uncasville.

EUROBASKET 2022 QUARTERFINALS

Spain 100, Finland 90 — The Finns’ incredible run ends at the hands of the Hernangomez brothers, who combined for 42 points. Lauri Markkanen, who is going to make the All-Tournament team, finished strong with 28-11 in the loss. Huge month for him. Spain is on to the semis with no Gasols, no Ricky Rubio, no Serge Ibaka. Still one of the best teams in the world.

Germany 107, Greece 96 — The big story here is Giannis Antetokounmpo getting ejected with five minutes left in the fourth for his second “unsportsmanlike act” of the game.

ESPN @espn

Giannis was ejected from Greece's quarterfinal game against Germany following this unsportsmanlike foul call.

Truth is that Germany was well on track to win this even with Giannis on the court. The Greeks’ starting five including Giannis got trounced (Antetokounmpo was a -19 in 30 minutes) as the Germans just have it going on full tilt right now. They’re in Berlin. They might win this tournament. They’ve already beaten Slovenia once!

Dennis Schroder had an efficient 26-8. Franz Wagner is doing stuff like this.