Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Robert Sarver has said that he will be selling both of the franchises, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
“As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness. I expected that the commissioner’s one-year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I and so many fans love,” Sarver said via a statement, the Washington Postreported on Wednesday. “But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible – that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past. For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury.”
The news comes on the heels of the NBA conducting an independent investigation into workplace misconduct, which concluded that “Sarver, on at least five occasions during his tenure with the Suns/Mercury organization, repeated the N-word when recounting the statements of others.”
The investigation also found that “Sarver engaged in instances of inequitable conduct toward female employees, made many sex-related comments in the workplace, made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female employees and other women, and on several occasions engaged in inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.”
Sarver was ultimately handed down a $10 million fine and was suspended from the Suns and Mercury organization for one year.
After news of the fine and suspension broke, LeBron James wrote that the “league definitely got this wrong.”
He continued, “I don’t need to explain why. Y’all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I’m gonna say it again, there is no place in this league for that kind of behavior.”
