September 16, 2022 • 18 mins
A lengthy investigation by the NBA into Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver has uncovered a deeply troubling history of racist and sexist behavior. As a consequence, Sarver reluctantly received a one-year suspension and a $10 million fine, prompting widespread criticism that the punishment is disproportionate to the considerable infractions. SI’s Rohan Nadkarni joins to discuss the details of the findings and how the league should rectify its verdict.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, the NBA suspended
Sons and Mercury owner Robert Sarver for one year and
finds him ten million dollars for workplace misconduct that included
racially insensitive language and unequal treatment of women. SI staffer
Rohan nod Kearney joins me to discuss the investigation of Sarver,
his punishment, and where the NBA goes from here. I'm
(00:26):
your host John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio.
This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner
Robert Sarver has been suspended for one year and finds
ten million dollars following an investigation into Sarver after an
ESPN report uncovered a history of racist and sexist comments.
(00:50):
He was disrespectful to his organization, He was disrespectful to women,
He was disrespectful to African American's well in the full story.
The full picture that is painted in this report is
certainly damning. Rohan, Welcome back to Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thank
you for having me back on, John, It's been you know,
(01:10):
I wish we could be back on the show together.
In more auspicious circumstances. I feel like I invite you
on my podcast all the time, and yet I think
this is my second SI Weekly Parents your triumphant return.
We do hear you on Open Floor. I pop on
their periodically this topic. I'm sure that we'll be discussing
on the Friday episode of Open Floor. But news broke
(01:32):
this week that the NBA had suspended Sons and Mercury
owner Robert Sarver for one year and find him ten
million dollars. This is after a month's long independent review.
They spoke with three twenty people Rohan, more than eighty
thousand documents were reviewed. They went back eighteen years and
found that Starver quote engaged in conduct that clearly violated
common workplace standards as reflected in team and league rules
(01:55):
and policies. This conduct included the use of racially insensitive
language on eque, treatment of female employees, sex related statements
and conduct, and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion
constituted bullying. In addition to the suspension and fine, Starvin
must now complete a training program focused on respect and
appropriate work place conduct. I think that's probably too little,
(02:18):
too late there. What's your reaction before we get into
the specifics of what he's alleged to do about the
terms of his punishment. I mean, I think, like everybody else,
I'm just completely shocked the NBA drop the baldness. It's
completely insignificant. The idea that he can sit there, quote unquote,
be suspended, continue to make profits off the suns of
this season. It's a joke, really, John, I'm when we
(02:42):
first had an inkling that the news was coming, the
length of the investigation led me to believe that they
were being really thorough in the event that they needed
to ban him. They needed to have all the evidence
at their disposal, and it seems like they have plenty
of smoking guns here. I think the NBAS punishment was
a joke. I think their statement was a joke. I
know we're gonna get into the incident specifically here, but
(03:03):
in this statement alone, it says we don't believe these
statements were racially motivated something along those lines. It's just pathetic.
I don't know how the NBA drew the conclusions they
drew from the investigation that they conduct. Here's just a
partial list of stuff that he said or did around
women and even male employees told a pregnant woman, Hey,
(03:23):
you can't really have the same kind of career you're
gonna have because you know your child needs a mother.
We're gonna have to take you off this event. Talked
about sex acts, talked about condoms, talked about the size
of his own penis, made comments about the physical appearance
of female staffers, including the son's dancers, dropped his pants
and his underwear while a physical trainer was performing a
(03:46):
fitness examination on him, and the report concluded that he
did none of that out of racial or gender based animus.
I'm really shocked by this too, because they have a
preponderance of evidence and then they land on a one
year suspension and a ten million dollar fine, which obviously inequitable.
Among the key findings, on at least five occasions, Sarver
(04:08):
used the N word. Sarver engaged in instances of inequitable
conduct towards female employees, made many sexualated comments in the workplace,
and made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female
employees and other women. On several occasions, he engaged in
inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees, and he engaged in
demeaning and harsh treatment of employees included by yelling and
cursing at them. That's a lot. And then somehow they
(04:29):
land on a one year suspension and like you know,
the NBA fancies itself, Rohan, is this really progressive institution
that's supposed to be tolerant, at least relative to other
sports entities, and yet when it comes to meeting out
punishment or standing up to ownership specifically, it fails consistently.
And this is a really gross violation of it. I mean,
(04:51):
I think it's so stark too, because part of the
reason that Adam Silver gained let's call it notoriety or
favor were among sports fans was when he came in
how he handled the Donald Sterling situation. And this feels
like the exact opposite of that. That's really kind of
the elephant in the room is what what has changed
(05:12):
or what has made this different than the Donald Sterling situation.
And I think that is something that's going to be
reported on and discussed in the coming months because it
just doesn't make any sense. I when you hit the
nail on the head, that was very early in his
tenure as commissioner. That was if you think about it
before we've really had a cultural moment that involved consequences
for people, right. I mean, you know, I remember after
(05:35):
the George Floyd murder where it seemed like corporations were
being held to some kind of different standard and it
being people were feeling forced to change a little bit,
and it was all very awkward and clunky and uncomfortable
and kind of revealing of how these things are not
really about doing what's right. It's about kind of following
the money, your public pressure, etcetera. Adam Silver was ahead
(05:57):
of all that with Donald Sterling effective immediately, I am
banning Mr Sterling for life from any association with the
Clippers organization or the NBA. And now it just feels
like we're kind of reverting back to an even worse time,
even the fact that he could only get a one
(06:19):
year suspension and attendingly all fine. I don't know if
there's some kind of legal analysis that needs to be
done here and there's something that's protecting Robert Sarver, or
maybe he even knows something that's protecting him, But it's
it's very strange in kind of this time where it
people are at least pretending to have a heightened sensitivity,
(06:39):
whether they have it or not, that the NBA is
whiffing so hard here. If you think about it, John,
Let's say this news came out about Adam Silver. Let's
say we found out hypothetically, of course Adam Silver used
the N word five times, Adam Silver's emailing porn to people, etcetera.
There is not a chance that Adam Silver keeps his
job in that situation. It's not a chance anybody any
(07:01):
other level of the NBA keeps their job if they're
doing the things that the NBA found out Robert Sarver
was doing. So the fact that he's able to continue
to own the team, it just doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't. And you hit on something there earlier about
consequences and how it felt like we had reached a point,
especially with Donald Sterling, where there would be consequences for
(07:22):
actions that were this agreed, just especially for privileged, white
rich men who previously didn't have to face those consequences,
and now it feels like we're going in the other direction.
I want to get into some of these specifics here
because they are really over the top. Hundred individuals Rohan
one hundred witness, Sarver statements or actions that were deemed inappropriate.
Of the five times Sarver repeatedly used the N word,
(07:45):
four came after he was told by black and white
employees to stop doing it and that he shouldn't do
it even when he's just repeating somebody. He told a
female employee that women cry too much. Twelve witnesses recall
Sarver making a reference at an all employee meeting to
a specific sex act. Nineteen witnesses recall him talking about
a specific type of condom. There's even more graphics stuff
(08:07):
about him walking into a room naked and telling a
male and a female employee who were in the room
at the time, that the woman should leave the room
because she had never seen anything like that before, and
on and on and on. Donald Sterling was rightly pushed
out for things that were not dissimilar to this. Now
there was a tape, so maybe that went a certain
distance towards pushing him out. But it absolutely floors me
(08:31):
that Robert Sarver, ostensibly, unless they decided to push him
out during this one year's suspension, will be able to
return to business as usual in one year's time. And
let's not forget that he presided over a culture of
this stuff going back eighteen years. This investigation found that
other misconduct, racial insensitivity, in mistreatment of female employees, and
appropriate comments on sex or sexual orientation spanned almost two decades,
(08:57):
and for that two decades of conduct, he gets one
year off. I don't understand how that makes any sense
to anyone anywhere. It's really really baffling. You know, I
wish I had pulled it up before we record it,
but I'm sure, I promise you the songs again. There
was that era, and I know it's kind of a
an uncomfortable flashpoint to bring up, but there was that time,
(09:18):
and there was no NBA going on. It was before
the bubble. You know, there's protests in the street every
day or every single NBA team, I think literally every
single one except the Knicks, who maybe did it last.
Every single NBA team released a statement, Oh, we condemn
(09:40):
racism and all its forms, we stand against racism, blah
blah blah. And now you're just seeing how empty all
those things are. And I think the NBA has to
accept that whatever gestures they make are going to feel
empty now. You know, whatever gestures they make, corporate decisions
that they make that say, Hey, you know, we really
want women involved in our game. You know, the NBA
really wants a woman to be a head coach of
(10:02):
an NBA team. What woman would ever be the head
coach of the Phoenix Suns listening to some of these
comments robertsrver would make, Again, it's a weird situation. They're
one of the few teams that has a black GM
and a black coach. But how do they feel seeing
these statements throwing Roberts Harbor is saying things like this
all the time. I do think there's a degree that, Frankly,
I think people in and around the league, in and
(10:25):
around society are used to people of Robert Harber's stature
acting this way and getting away with it. I think
that's part of the problem here is we've kind of
created an environment where people with that much money can
live without consequences. But this was an opportunity for the
NBA to begin to change that paradigm even a little bit. Yeah,
I mean it's quite clear that the hypocrisy has been
(10:47):
laid bare, not just in this instance but previously. At
my last job, I did a story where I dug
through FBC records over five years to look at the
political donations of NBA owners, and this was during the
Black Lives Matter protests, the George Floyd murder protests, and
you have Black Lives Matter on the court, and you have,
as you mentioned, all teams issuing statements and saying that
(11:08):
they want to stop Hay and they stand with the players,
but they have repeatedly shown through their actions that they
do not. Because you can say, oh, we stand with
the players, and we want policing reform, and we want
social justice and we want racial equality, but you have
say owners, the predominant number of owners in the NBA
donating to a Republican Party, heavy amounts of money that
(11:29):
enforce or put into place policies that are in direct
conflict with what they're saying. For example, the Orlando Magic
issued a statement as well after George Floyd, and then
a couple of weeks later, the DeVos family donated two
hundred thousand dollars to the Republican Party and Trump, which
is a group that was directly fighting the George Floyd
(11:49):
Justice and Policing Act that was put forth by Karen
Bass that got stalled in the Senate. So you can say, oh,
we want to stop. Hey, we've got Black Lives Matter
on the court, but the actual policies that your support
are in direct contrast and conflict with what you're saying.
So the lip service is really ridiculous here, and we're
seeing it again. I want to bring up the money
(12:10):
component here because I think it's important. The NBA says
it will donate his fine two organizations that are dedicated
to addressing race and gender based issues in and out
of the workplace. Here again, pretty gross lip service because
that's the maximum amount permitted by the NBA constitution and
by laws. And it sounds like a lot, right, except
the team is worth one point eight billion. Various reports
(12:32):
peg Starver's net worth at eight hundred million. This season alone,
Jay Crowder, Michail Bridges, Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, and Devin
Booker will all make more than ten million dollars, and
Landry Shammitt and Dario Sarich will make almost ten million dollars.
My whole point here is that Starver can afford this right,
This doesn't hurt him in any meaningful way. Sitting out
(12:53):
a year does not hurt him in any meaningful way.
And on top of that, according to woj and Baxter
Homes of ESPN and Starver may have cooperated with the investigation,
but he was quote unaccepting of the idea that he
deserved a one year suspension and a ten million dollar fine.
So not only are these punishments insufficient, not only are
these punishments not painful to him in any meaningful way.
(13:16):
It doesn't look like it's registered at all. He doesn't
think that he deserved any of this. He's long been
known as kind of one of the worst owners in
the league. I mean, that's just do in large parts
of the way he's doing his team, which has often
been cheap. Of course, there was the famous Kevin Arnovit's
story that he wants, let I think, let a goat
defecate in his general manager's office. Just clearly out of
(13:38):
touch with reality. I know multiple former Phoenix Suns players.
None of this surprised any of them. When the story
came out from back to around, it was like, oh, yeah,
that sounds about right. They didn't get everything in the report,
They just got what people were willing to tell them,
because I know that there were so much more. Obviously,
the NBA is not who he should be looking to
(13:59):
ultimately to saw all these kind of great, bigger societal issues.
I think that they bear some responsibility, especially because they've
kind of thrown themselves into this public arena and try
to position themselves as a league that is kind of
on the forefront of these issues that cares about things
like social justice, racial inequality, etcetera. But that just makes
it all the more shocking to me that you know,
(14:21):
you talk to me when they say, well, couldn't you
find out stuff like this about any owner or any
of these workplaces? Some kind of utopia? Maybe not, But
when you're kind of given a softball like this one,
like a meatball right over the heart of the plate,
given all this evidence, so many past workers willing to
speak out, you're just giving such an easy opportunity to
(14:42):
get rid of the guy that it sounds silly, but
it really does make you almost want to put your
conspiracy hat on, like what's going on here that they
can't get rid of this guy when they have all
this evidence that he's a terrible person. And I can't
stress enough that if any other person at any other
level of the NBA is done half the things Robert
Sarver's accused. If there's no way they're keeping their job
(15:04):
and holding your owners to above consequence, I think is
a terrible precedent to set. Yeah. Not surprisingly, as I mentioned,
ESPN reported that the punitive part of the process became
largely acrimonious, with the Sarver pushing back. Quite clearly, when
you're an NBA owner, unless you're Donald Sterling, you know
you can get away with a lot of these things.
(15:25):
Although I wonder where do you think this ends up?
Because Al Sharpton and various organizations weighed in on this
and we're really up in arms about this being insufficient.
Do you think over the next year that behind the
scenes they are pushing him to sell or do you
anticipate that any year's time, Robert Sarver, despite having done
all of this that we outlined over the last almost
(15:47):
two decades, this isn't just like limited isolated behavior, but
a pattern over two decades. Do you think we'll see
him back in the NBA. I don't have a lot
of faith that he's going to be pushed out, only
because as you mentioned one, he's really stubborn. He he
didn't want to accept this punishment. He didn't want to
accept the fine. I'm sure he would welcome a legal
(16:10):
fight at this point. Also the fact that again they
had all this evidence didn't try to kick him out
right away. I do think there's gonna be a lot
of public pressure, and I don't think that this is
going to go away. You know, whenever Adam Silver's next
media availabilities, for example, he's going to be asked a
lot of questions about this. I think everybody in this
room would agree that if any of us had said
or done even a small percentage of the things that
(16:30):
Robert Sarver has been shown to have said and done,
we would be fired. Why should there be a different
standard for the owner of an NBA team than there
would be for everybody who works in this league? Fair question.
I'd only say there are particular rights here of someone
who owns an NBA team as to some as opposed
to somebody who's an employee. I don't have a lot
(16:53):
of faith that he's going to be pushed out, but
I do think that the public pressure will consider it amount.
I mean, you have former Sons employees tweeting about how
upset they were and how long the process was the
NBA made them relive all these traumas dragged them through
all these interviews. I mean, this investigation took many, many months.
I think those people aren't going to just remain quiet
now and kind of wipe their hands in and say, oh, well,
(17:15):
he's been suspended for only one year. So I do
think there'll be hopefully more stories, hopefully more public pressure,
because I don't think the NBA should just be able
to kind of wipe their hands clean of this. Yeah,
well I don't. I don't think they'll be able to.
As you mentioned, this is a topic that is not
going away. A lot of people like us will be
asking the NBA and Adam Silver about this certainly over
(17:35):
the next year. Uh. Listen to him on Open Floor,
read him on SI dot com. Rohan Canny, thank you
for this any time, John. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a
production of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more
(17:58):
podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. And
for more of Sports Illustrated, its best stories and podcasts,
visit SI dot com. This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly
was produced by Jordan Rozsieri, Jessica Armoski and Isaac Lee,
who was also our sound engineer. Our senior producers are
(18:19):
Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out. Our executive producers are
Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Our theme song is
by Nolan Schneider.
On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly, the NBA suspended
Sons and Mercury owner Robert Sarver for one year and
finds him ten million dollars for workplace misconduct that included
racially insensitive language and unequal treatment of women. SI staffer
Rohan nod Kearney joins me to discuss the investigation of Sarver,
his punishment, and where the NBA goes from here. I'm
(00:26):
your host John Gonzalez from Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio.
This is Sports Illustrated Weekly. Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner
Robert Sarver has been suspended for one year and finds
ten million dollars following an investigation into Sarver after an
ESPN report uncovered a history of racist and sexist comments.
(00:50):
He was disrespectful to his organization, He was disrespectful to women,
He was disrespectful to African American's well in the full story.
The full picture that is painted in this report is
certainly damning. Rohan, Welcome back to Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thank
you for having me back on, John, It's been you know,
(01:10):
I wish we could be back on the show together.
In more auspicious circumstances. I feel like I invite you
on my podcast all the time, and yet I think
this is my second SI Weekly Parents your triumphant return.
We do hear you on Open Floor. I pop on
their periodically this topic. I'm sure that we'll be discussing
on the Friday episode of Open Floor. But news broke
(01:32):
this week that the NBA had suspended Sons and Mercury
owner Robert Sarver for one year and find him ten
million dollars. This is after a month's long independent review.
They spoke with three twenty people Rohan, more than eighty
thousand documents were reviewed. They went back eighteen years and
found that Starver quote engaged in conduct that clearly violated
common workplace standards as reflected in team and league rules
(01:55):
and policies. This conduct included the use of racially insensitive
language on eque, treatment of female employees, sex related statements
and conduct, and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion
constituted bullying. In addition to the suspension and fine, Starvin
must now complete a training program focused on respect and
appropriate work place conduct. I think that's probably too little,
(02:18):
too late there. What's your reaction before we get into
the specifics of what he's alleged to do about the
terms of his punishment. I mean, I think, like everybody else,
I'm just completely shocked the NBA drop the baldness. It's
completely insignificant. The idea that he can sit there, quote unquote,
be suspended, continue to make profits off the suns of
this season. It's a joke, really, John, I'm when we
(02:42):
first had an inkling that the news was coming, the
length of the investigation led me to believe that they
were being really thorough in the event that they needed
to ban him. They needed to have all the evidence
at their disposal, and it seems like they have plenty
of smoking guns here. I think the NBAS punishment was
a joke. I think their statement was a joke. I
know we're gonna get into the incident specifically here, but
(03:03):
in this statement alone, it says we don't believe these
statements were racially motivated something along those lines. It's just pathetic.
I don't know how the NBA drew the conclusions they
drew from the investigation that they conduct. Here's just a
partial list of stuff that he said or did around
women and even male employees told a pregnant woman, Hey,
(03:23):
you can't really have the same kind of career you're
gonna have because you know your child needs a mother.
We're gonna have to take you off this event. Talked
about sex acts, talked about condoms, talked about the size
of his own penis, made comments about the physical appearance
of female staffers, including the son's dancers, dropped his pants
and his underwear while a physical trainer was performing a
(03:46):
fitness examination on him, and the report concluded that he
did none of that out of racial or gender based animus.
I'm really shocked by this too, because they have a
preponderance of evidence and then they land on a one
year suspension and a ten million dollar fine, which obviously inequitable.
Among the key findings, on at least five occasions, Sarver
(04:08):
used the N word. Sarver engaged in instances of inequitable
conduct towards female employees, made many sexualated comments in the workplace,
and made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female
employees and other women. On several occasions, he engaged in
inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees, and he engaged in
demeaning and harsh treatment of employees included by yelling and
cursing at them. That's a lot. And then somehow they
(04:29):
land on a one year suspension and like you know,
the NBA fancies itself, Rohan, is this really progressive institution
that's supposed to be tolerant, at least relative to other
sports entities, and yet when it comes to meeting out
punishment or standing up to ownership specifically, it fails consistently.
And this is a really gross violation of it. I mean,
(04:51):
I think it's so stark too, because part of the
reason that Adam Silver gained let's call it notoriety or
favor were among sports fans was when he came in
how he handled the Donald Sterling situation. And this feels
like the exact opposite of that. That's really kind of
the elephant in the room is what what has changed
(05:12):
or what has made this different than the Donald Sterling situation.
And I think that is something that's going to be
reported on and discussed in the coming months because it
just doesn't make any sense. I when you hit the
nail on the head, that was very early in his
tenure as commissioner. That was if you think about it
before we've really had a cultural moment that involved consequences
for people, right. I mean, you know, I remember after
(05:35):
the George Floyd murder where it seemed like corporations were
being held to some kind of different standard and it
being people were feeling forced to change a little bit,
and it was all very awkward and clunky and uncomfortable
and kind of revealing of how these things are not
really about doing what's right. It's about kind of following
the money, your public pressure, etcetera. Adam Silver was ahead
(05:57):
of all that with Donald Sterling effective immediately, I am
banning Mr Sterling for life from any association with the
Clippers organization or the NBA. And now it just feels
like we're kind of reverting back to an even worse time,
even the fact that he could only get a one
(06:19):
year suspension and attendingly all fine. I don't know if
there's some kind of legal analysis that needs to be
done here and there's something that's protecting Robert Sarver, or
maybe he even knows something that's protecting him, But it's
it's very strange in kind of this time where it
people are at least pretending to have a heightened sensitivity,
(06:39):
whether they have it or not, that the NBA is
whiffing so hard here. If you think about it, John,
Let's say this news came out about Adam Silver. Let's
say we found out hypothetically, of course Adam Silver used
the N word five times, Adam Silver's emailing porn to people, etcetera.
There is not a chance that Adam Silver keeps his
job in that situation. It's not a chance anybody any
(07:01):
other level of the NBA keeps their job if they're
doing the things that the NBA found out Robert Sarver
was doing. So the fact that he's able to continue
to own the team, it just doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't. And you hit on something there earlier about
consequences and how it felt like we had reached a point,
especially with Donald Sterling, where there would be consequences for
(07:22):
actions that were this agreed, just especially for privileged, white
rich men who previously didn't have to face those consequences,
and now it feels like we're going in the other direction.
I want to get into some of these specifics here
because they are really over the top. Hundred individuals Rohan
one hundred witness, Sarver statements or actions that were deemed inappropriate.
Of the five times Sarver repeatedly used the N word,
(07:45):
four came after he was told by black and white
employees to stop doing it and that he shouldn't do
it even when he's just repeating somebody. He told a
female employee that women cry too much. Twelve witnesses recall
Sarver making a reference at an all employee meeting to
a specific sex act. Nineteen witnesses recall him talking about
a specific type of condom. There's even more graphics stuff
(08:07):
about him walking into a room naked and telling a
male and a female employee who were in the room
at the time, that the woman should leave the room
because she had never seen anything like that before, and
on and on and on. Donald Sterling was rightly pushed
out for things that were not dissimilar to this. Now
there was a tape, so maybe that went a certain
distance towards pushing him out. But it absolutely floors me
(08:31):
that Robert Sarver, ostensibly, unless they decided to push him
out during this one year's suspension, will be able to
return to business as usual in one year's time. And
let's not forget that he presided over a culture of
this stuff going back eighteen years. This investigation found that
other misconduct, racial insensitivity, in mistreatment of female employees, and
appropriate comments on sex or sexual orientation spanned almost two decades,
(08:57):
and for that two decades of conduct, he gets one
year off. I don't understand how that makes any sense
to anyone anywhere. It's really really baffling. You know, I
wish I had pulled it up before we record it,
but I'm sure, I promise you the songs again. There
was that era, and I know it's kind of a
an uncomfortable flashpoint to bring up, but there was that time,
(09:18):
and there was no NBA going on. It was before
the bubble. You know, there's protests in the street every
day or every single NBA team, I think literally every
single one except the Knicks, who maybe did it last.
Every single NBA team released a statement, Oh, we condemn
(09:40):
racism and all its forms, we stand against racism, blah
blah blah. And now you're just seeing how empty all
those things are. And I think the NBA has to
accept that whatever gestures they make are going to feel
empty now. You know, whatever gestures they make, corporate decisions
that they make that say, Hey, you know, we really
want women involved in our game. You know, the NBA
really wants a woman to be a head coach of
(10:02):
an NBA team. What woman would ever be the head
coach of the Phoenix Suns listening to some of these
comments robertsrver would make, Again, it's a weird situation. They're
one of the few teams that has a black GM
and a black coach. But how do they feel seeing
these statements throwing Roberts Harbor is saying things like this
all the time. I do think there's a degree that, Frankly,
I think people in and around the league, in and
(10:25):
around society are used to people of Robert Harber's stature
acting this way and getting away with it. I think
that's part of the problem here is we've kind of
created an environment where people with that much money can
live without consequences. But this was an opportunity for the
NBA to begin to change that paradigm even a little bit. Yeah,
I mean it's quite clear that the hypocrisy has been
(10:47):
laid bare, not just in this instance but previously. At
my last job, I did a story where I dug
through FBC records over five years to look at the
political donations of NBA owners, and this was during the
Black Lives Matter protests, the George Floyd murder protests, and
you have Black Lives Matter on the court, and you have,
as you mentioned, all teams issuing statements and saying that
(11:08):
they want to stop Hay and they stand with the players,
but they have repeatedly shown through their actions that they
do not. Because you can say, oh, we stand with
the players, and we want policing reform, and we want
social justice and we want racial equality, but you have
say owners, the predominant number of owners in the NBA
donating to a Republican Party, heavy amounts of money that
(11:29):
enforce or put into place policies that are in direct
conflict with what they're saying. For example, the Orlando Magic
issued a statement as well after George Floyd, and then
a couple of weeks later, the DeVos family donated two
hundred thousand dollars to the Republican Party and Trump, which
is a group that was directly fighting the George Floyd
(11:49):
Justice and Policing Act that was put forth by Karen
Bass that got stalled in the Senate. So you can say, oh,
we want to stop. Hey, we've got Black Lives Matter
on the court, but the actual policies that your support
are in direct contrast and conflict with what you're saying.
So the lip service is really ridiculous here, and we're
seeing it again. I want to bring up the money
(12:10):
component here because I think it's important. The NBA says
it will donate his fine two organizations that are dedicated
to addressing race and gender based issues in and out
of the workplace. Here again, pretty gross lip service because
that's the maximum amount permitted by the NBA constitution and
by laws. And it sounds like a lot, right, except
the team is worth one point eight billion. Various reports
(12:32):
peg Starver's net worth at eight hundred million. This season alone,
Jay Crowder, Michail Bridges, Chris Paul, DeAndre Ayton, and Devin
Booker will all make more than ten million dollars, and
Landry Shammitt and Dario Sarich will make almost ten million dollars.
My whole point here is that Starver can afford this right,
This doesn't hurt him in any meaningful way. Sitting out
(12:53):
a year does not hurt him in any meaningful way.
And on top of that, according to woj and Baxter
Homes of ESPN and Starver may have cooperated with the investigation,
but he was quote unaccepting of the idea that he
deserved a one year suspension and a ten million dollar fine.
So not only are these punishments insufficient, not only are
these punishments not painful to him in any meaningful way.
(13:16):
It doesn't look like it's registered at all. He doesn't
think that he deserved any of this. He's long been
known as kind of one of the worst owners in
the league. I mean, that's just do in large parts
of the way he's doing his team, which has often
been cheap. Of course, there was the famous Kevin Arnovit's
story that he wants, let I think, let a goat
defecate in his general manager's office. Just clearly out of
(13:38):
touch with reality. I know multiple former Phoenix Suns players.
None of this surprised any of them. When the story
came out from back to around, it was like, oh, yeah,
that sounds about right. They didn't get everything in the report,
They just got what people were willing to tell them,
because I know that there were so much more. Obviously,
the NBA is not who he should be looking to
(13:59):
ultimately to saw all these kind of great, bigger societal issues.
I think that they bear some responsibility, especially because they've
kind of thrown themselves into this public arena and try
to position themselves as a league that is kind of
on the forefront of these issues that cares about things
like social justice, racial inequality, etcetera. But that just makes
it all the more shocking to me that you know,
(14:21):
you talk to me when they say, well, couldn't you
find out stuff like this about any owner or any
of these workplaces? Some kind of utopia? Maybe not, But
when you're kind of given a softball like this one,
like a meatball right over the heart of the plate,
given all this evidence, so many past workers willing to
speak out, you're just giving such an easy opportunity to
(14:42):
get rid of the guy that it sounds silly, but
it really does make you almost want to put your
conspiracy hat on, like what's going on here that they
can't get rid of this guy when they have all
this evidence that he's a terrible person. And I can't
stress enough that if any other person at any other
level of the NBA is done half the things Robert
Sarver's accused. If there's no way they're keeping their job
(15:04):
and holding your owners to above consequence, I think is
a terrible precedent to set. Yeah. Not surprisingly, as I mentioned,
ESPN reported that the punitive part of the process became
largely acrimonious, with the Sarver pushing back. Quite clearly, when
you're an NBA owner, unless you're Donald Sterling, you know
you can get away with a lot of these things.
(15:25):
Although I wonder where do you think this ends up?
Because Al Sharpton and various organizations weighed in on this
and we're really up in arms about this being insufficient.
Do you think over the next year that behind the
scenes they are pushing him to sell or do you
anticipate that any year's time, Robert Sarver, despite having done
all of this that we outlined over the last almost
(15:47):
two decades, this isn't just like limited isolated behavior, but
a pattern over two decades. Do you think we'll see
him back in the NBA. I don't have a lot
of faith that he's going to be pushed out, only
because as you mentioned one, he's really stubborn. He he
didn't want to accept this punishment. He didn't want to
accept the fine. I'm sure he would welcome a legal
(16:10):
fight at this point. Also the fact that again they
had all this evidence didn't try to kick him out
right away. I do think there's gonna be a lot
of public pressure, and I don't think that this is
going to go away. You know, whenever Adam Silver's next
media availabilities, for example, he's going to be asked a
lot of questions about this. I think everybody in this
room would agree that if any of us had said
or done even a small percentage of the things that
(16:30):
Robert Sarver has been shown to have said and done,
we would be fired. Why should there be a different
standard for the owner of an NBA team than there
would be for everybody who works in this league? Fair question.
I'd only say there are particular rights here of someone
who owns an NBA team as to some as opposed
to somebody who's an employee. I don't have a lot
(16:53):
of faith that he's going to be pushed out, but
I do think that the public pressure will consider it amount.
I mean, you have former Sons employees tweeting about how
upset they were and how long the process was the
NBA made them relive all these traumas dragged them through
all these interviews. I mean, this investigation took many, many months.
I think those people aren't going to just remain quiet
now and kind of wipe their hands in and say, oh, well,
(17:15):
he's been suspended for only one year. So I do
think there'll be hopefully more stories, hopefully more public pressure,
because I don't think the NBA should just be able
to kind of wipe their hands clean of this. Yeah,
well I don't. I don't think they'll be able to.
As you mentioned, this is a topic that is not
going away. A lot of people like us will be
asking the NBA and Adam Silver about this certainly over
(17:35):
the next year. Uh. Listen to him on Open Floor,
read him on SI dot com. Rohan Canny, thank you
for this any time, John. Sports Illustrated Weekly is a
production of Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. For more
(17:58):
podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. And
for more of Sports Illustrated, its best stories and podcasts,
visit SI dot com. This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly
was produced by Jordan Rozsieri, Jessica Armoski and Isaac Lee,
who was also our sound engineer. Our senior producers are
(18:19):
Dan Bloom and Harry sward Out. Our executive producers are
Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Our theme song is
by Nolan Schneider.
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