Robert Sarver Notes: Reactions, Next Steps, More

The NBA’s decision to fine Suns owner Robert Sarver $10MM and suspend him for one year following the conclusion of the investigation into his workplace misconduct is “not nothing,” but it also feels lighter than it should have been, David Aldridge of The Athletic contends.

Aldridge, Sam Amick of The Athletic, and Kurt Helin of NBC Sports are among the writers who expressed confusion about the investigation’s conclusion that it was impossible to determine whether Sarver’s comments and behavior were “motivated by racial or gender-based animus.”

Sarver shouldn’t get to hide behind excuses about his sophomoric sense of humor being misunderstood, Helin writes, while Amick says the Suns owner was “routinely terrible” to women in addition to being “racially insensitive at best and outright racist at worst.”

If the NBA wants to avoid having the situation in Phoenix repeat itself within another franchise, the league should set up more checks and balances in its relationship with its teams, Amick argues. Amick also believes the NBA needs to be responsible for some of the “watchdog work” that the media has shouldered in recent years in exposing some of the league’s most toxic workplaces in Dallas and Phoenix.

Here are several more notes and reactions on the Sarver situation:

• While Sarver should feel fortunate to retain ownership of the Suns, his reported resistance to the idea that he deserved a $10MM fine and one-year suspension is an indication that he hasn’t learned much from the process, says Chris Herring of SI.com. Herring suggests that the league should have implemented a zero-tolerance policy for Sarver going forward in order to “further incentivize” him to legitimately change his behavior.
• A number of the current and former Suns employees who have spoken to Baxter Holmes of ESPN since Tuesday were disappointed that Sarver won’t face a more severe punishment, Holmes said during an appearance on NBA Today (video link). “I had a recent message from a current staffer who said, ‘I cannot express to you how mad and disappointed people are at the spineless nature of the NBA’s decision,'” Holmes said.
• While Sarver’s behavior would have cost any normal employee his job, it’s much easier to fire an employee than to take a business away from its owner, writes Michael Rosenberg of SI.com. Trying to force Sarver out as the Suns’ owner would’ve meant a long legal battle for the NBA with a “murky chance” of winning, Rosenberg adds.
• If the NBA had tried to force Sarver out, his side would’ve almost certainly responded with litigation, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, who observes that the discovery process was something the league and the other 29 team owners likely wanted to avoid.
• Sarver will work with the NBA to appoint an interim governor who will oversee the Suns during Sarver’s one-year suspension, sources tell Holmes (Twitter link).