The NBA’s Robert Sarver Problem, Explained

ESPN Daily

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Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

Last week, after the NBA announced a one year-suspension of Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, many NBA players and stakeholders spoke out: saying the punishment wasn’t strong enough. Sarver was accused of racist, sexist, and misogynist behavior by scores of employees, chronicled by ESPN in an investigation from fall 2021. It’s a situation that in some ways mirrors that of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banned for life from the NBA when audio tapes revealed he had made racist statements. But thus far, the NBA has maintained that Sarver’s behavior does not warrant the same punishment as Sterling’s. So today, Brian Windhorst explains why the NBA ruled as it did with Sarver, whether the backlash from the players will amount to anything, and what the whole affair says about the balance of power in the NBA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So, Ryan Winhorse, we've established on this podcast before and thank you for joining us by the way.
0:04.4	That you are a guy who's beat in the NBA as someone who is as plugged in as anybody is fundamentally
0:10.1	power, right? I mean, of course, I mean, I am an absolute expert in power, Pablo. Thank you for
0:16.3	recognizing that. But I say that seriously, Brian, because the story of Robert Sardver, the owner of
0:22.0	the Phoenix Suns is something that is not just being processed by the public right now. It is also
0:27.4	being processed secretly and you could argue even more crucially by the powerful, right? By
0:34.1	executives and back rooms all around the NBA. And so I'm just curious how you heard the news of
0:39.5	Robert Sardver's suspension by the league. Yeah. So there was a little bit of an orchestration
0:45.6	last week on Wednesday. Donovan Mitchell gave his press conference in Cleveland. I kind of had a
0:51.5	feeling I was going to get moved. Like I said, I thought it was New York. I'm not going to lie to you.
0:56.0	Once I found out I got traded in what we came, what we're going into like that trumped everything
1:01.0	for me. The NBA respectfully waited for that press conference to end and then Adam Silver began
1:08.3	his press conference. And so Donovan did his public press conference for the media and then he came
1:12.7	down into a suite. And I had my sit down interview with Donovan Mitchell. Do Cleveland Cavalier ever
1:20.9	go across your mind? At first, you know, I tried to block out as much as I could. And when it was over,
1:27.3	I picked up my phone, which had been on silent and I had all these text messages.
1:36.7	Text messages from general managers, text messages from agents, text messages from other
1:42.0	reporters about Adam Silver's press conference that had just ended, which I hadn't seen or read yet.
1:47.6	Basically, they were like, this is not going well. Let me reiterate the conduct is indefensible.
1:58.2	But I feel we dealt with it in a fair manner. I think there are a lot of people around the
2:03.5	league today who think that Robert Sarver is very fortunate to only have a one-year suspension.
2:09.2	I don't have the right to take away his team. But to me, the consequences are severe here.
	...

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