- With Deandre Ayton sidelined by a right leg contusion, Frank Kaminsky has played so well that Suns coach Monty Williams wants to keep him in the rotation, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Kaminsky explained why he was happy to stay with Phoenix in free agency, even without a guarantee of regular playing time (video link).
After Baxter Holmes of ESPN published a report accusing Suns owner Robert Sarver of racist and misogynistic conduct, three former team employees received messages from Sarver’s wife, Penny Sarver, Holmes writes in a new ESPN story. She called one former Suns employee “a liar,” said another was “crushing my families’ lives,” and accused a third of being “very bitter,” as Holmes relays.
“Please put your hatred aside and realize the hurt you are causing by spreading lies and fabrications,” she wrote to the third former employee. “Is your time in the spotlight that important? If something happens to one of my children, I will hold you and (former Suns head coach) Earl Watson personally responsible. Think about your own child for a second and imagine the tables turned.”
Reached for comment, Penny Sarver said she wanted to “set the record straight and to share how disappointed and hurt I am by the lies that are circulating about my husband and the Suns organization.” However, one of the former employees contacted by Sarver told Holmes it was hard to interpret the message as anything “other than as a threat.”
Meanwhile, Alex Prewitt and Jon Wertheim of SI.com have obtained video of Robert Sarver telling sexually explicit jokes and anecdotes during a posthumous “roast” of former Suns minority owner Dick Heckmann, who passed away in October 2020. While explicit material is expected at such an event, some of Sarver’s comments may have crossed a line and are consistent with complaints from many of Holmes’ sources about the Suns owner’s penchant for inappropriate workplace humor.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- In an appearance on ESPN (video link), Brian Windhorst said that LeBron James‘ abdominal strain is “not a severe injury” and won’t keep him out for an extended period. The Lakers star has been out since last Tuesday and the team hasn’t provided a timeline for his recovery or return.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores whether the Lakers made a mistake not re-signing Alex Caruso and what the cost of doing so would’ve been after accounting for tax penalties. While matching the Bulls’ four-year, $37MM deal for Caruso would’ve helped shore up L.A.’s backcourt defense and given the team a very movable contract, Pincus estimates that the Lakers’ overall 2021/22 payroll (salary and taxes) would’ve increased by about $33MM with that deal on the books.
- Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said this week that No. 7 overall pick Jonathan Kuminga, who hasn’t seen much NBA action so far, will have to be patient and will benefit from getting G League reps with Santa Cruz. “He had a lot of guys who were drafted right before or right after who are all playing a lot,” Kerr said, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “So it’s not easy for him, but he understands he’s on a very good team and he’s got to pay his dues and learn from the guys and there’s a lot to be said for that route in terms of development. I think he understands that and he’s working really hard.”
As the 2021/22 Lakers season threatens to go off the rails, the club is struggling with the offensive production of point guard Russell Westbrook, writes Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register. Goon is skeptical that Westbrook will ever be a great fit for the team, given his lackluster completion percentages at the rim and from long range, and his high turnover percentage.
Goon writes that the Lakers wanted Westbrook to have time to get acclimated to their system, while perhaps covertly hoping he would adapt alongside superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but that the early results appear to suggest Westbrook will be more reluctant to change on the court than the Lakers’ front office may have hoped.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Former Lakers head strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco speculates that LeBron James could miss between two and eight weeks with the abdominal strain that has caused him to miss the last two games, both losses, writes Bill Oram of The Athletic. “Especially the way he plays, it’s tough for me to see him getting back under four weeks,” DiFrancesco told Oram. “These are such delicate injuries that can respond to rest with pain relief quickly, but they are highly susceptible to re-injury if returned too quickly.” DiFrancesco was with the Lakers from 2011-17.
- Suns swingman Mikal Bridges responded to reports alleging potential toxic workplace behavior from embattled team owner Robert Sarver, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic (Twitter video link). “Obviously it’s a little bit disturbing, but it’s out of my control,” Bridges said. “The league is investigating and all that, so I think you just leave it up to them and continue what I do every day and try to win games.”
- Suns head coach Monty Williams has revealed that, though Deandre Ayton will not partake in Phoenix’s Monday contest against the Kings, an MRI indicated that there is no structural damage in his right leg, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Williams added that Ayton will have to manage the pain in the injured leg.
Asked on Thursday night about the allegations of racism and misogyny leveled against Suns owner Robert Sarver, several of the team’s on-court leaders acknowledged the severity of those allegations while also stating that they’ll wait for more details to come out before jumping to any conclusions. As Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays, head coach Monty Williams and star guards Devin Booker and Chris Paul were among those who addressed the subject.
“As someone who is the caretaker of a program, I find all these things that are being said serious in nature,” Williams said, noting that the incidents described in the ESPN report occurred before he arrived in Phoenix. “It takes courage to come out and express yourself. But at the same time, I’m aware there are two sides to this equation. … We still have to wait to see how clear the facts can appear.
“… If any of that stuff happened while I was here, I wouldn’t be in this seat. The league is doing an investigation, and we’ll know more obviously once that is settled.”
[RELATED: NBA, WNBA To Launch Investigation Into Sarver’s Conduct]
Booker said that he hasn’t noticed any racist or misogynistic behavior from Sarver since joining the team in 2014, but he also disagreed with the team owner’s portrayal of former Suns head coach Earl Watson as an unreliable source. Watson was one of the individuals who went on the record with allegations against Sarver. Asked if he considered his former coach credible, Booker replied, “Earl? Yeah. That’s my guy.”
Watson, who is currently an assistant for the Raptors, issued a statement of his own on Thursday stating that he’s “not interested in engaging in an ongoing battle of fact” and that he doesn’t want to spend every day reliving what was a “traumatic experience” for him.
Here’s more on the Suns and the investigation into the Sarver allegations:
- Paul and Booker said the team is trying to keep its focus on the court and to “control what we can control,” per Bontemps. Booker suggested that Williams is the “perfect person” to help the club navigate the situation. “He’s the best at that, at managing situations, controlling the room and keeping people focused forward,” Booker said of his coach, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “That’s what he’s done with our team, we’ve talked about it as a team. You can feel everything he says. We’re sticking behind him and we’re going to keep playing hard for him and winning basketball games.”
- The Suns continue to publish statements in support of Sarver on their official website. Today, they issued one signed by 12 members of the team’s ownership group, including longtime NFL star Larry Fitzgerald. “To a person, we dispute the characterization of Mr. Sarver and the organization as racist and sexist,” the statement reads. “We support Mr. Sarver’s leadership and stand with him.” It’s unclear exactly how many of the team’s minority shareholders didn’t sign the statement — Baxter Holmes’ ESPN report suggested the ownership group consists of approximately 20 members.
- One of the team’s minority stakeholders, vice chairman Andy Kohlberg, issued a separate statement of his own in addition to signing the aforementioned letter. Kohlberg said he has been business partners with Sarver for more than 17 years and has “never seen nor heard Robert make any statements that I experienced as racist, sexist or misogynistic.”
The NBA and WNBA issued a joint statement announcing that a “comprehensive investigation” will be launched regarding the conduct of Suns owner Robert Sarver, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.
“The allegations contained in today’s ESPN article are extremely serious, and we have directed the Wachtell Lipton law firm to commence a comprehensive investigation,” the statement issued by NBA Communications stated. “The NBA and WNBA remain committed to providing a respectful and inclusive workplace for all employees. Once the investigation is completed, its findings will provide the basis for any league action.”
ESPN published a detailed report regarding Sarver’s conduct on Thursday. It was based on interviews with more than 70 current and former Suns employees, and painted a picture of a toxic workplace culture under Sarver, who is accused of using racially inappropriate language and engaging in inappropriate and misogynistic behavior.
The law firm is the same one that conducted the 2014 investigation regarding former Clippers owner Donald Serling, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic tweets.
The organization issued a statement from Sarver, who indicated he’d welcome an investigation while denying the allegations. Sarver also took shots at former head coach Earl Watson, stating that Watson created a “toxic atmosphere in our organization.”
“I continue to be shocked by the false reporting from (reporter) Baxter Holmes,” Sarver’s statement read. “While there is so much that is inaccurate and misleading in this story that I hardly know where to begin, let me be clear: The n-word is not part of my vocabulary. I have never called anyone or any group of people the n-word, or referred to anyone or any group of people by that word, either verbally or in writing.
“… Instead of reporting the truth, Holmes’ story is based on misrepresentations from former Suns coach Earl Watson and other unnamed “sources.” Mr. Watson created an unprofessional and toxic atmosphere in our organization. He is clearly not a credible source. Despite hearing from witness after witness that disputed Mr. Watson’s stories, Mr. Holmes completely disregarded the truth here. Now we are in the position of trying to disprove things that did not happen.”
The team’s president and CEO, Jason Rowley, also issued a statement which in part questioned Holmes’ integrity.
“The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury organization vehemently reject the claims made in today’s ESPN article,” it read. “Our two organizations have always worked hard to create an environment that is respectful and diverse; where racism, sexism and damaging behavior of any kind are not condoned. Today’s story contains false information and narratives perpetuated by a reporter who has struggled unsuccessfully to match the facts to a story he decided he wanted to tell a year ago. He twisted statements and circumstances to fit his preconceived narrative. He broke every rule of journalism by first deciding on his findings and then cherry-picking events and unreliable sources to prop up his demonstrably false claims.”
However, the team’s part owner and vice chairman, Jahm Najafi, struck a different tone in a statement of his own, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets.
“The conduct he is alleged to have committed has stunned and saddened me and is unacceptable,” Najafi said.
The ESPN report that prompted the Suns and team owner Robert Sarver to issue a series of public statements and denials before its publication is now live. Having spoken to more than 70 current and former Suns employees, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes paints a picture of a toxic workplace culture under Sarver, who is accused of using racially inappropriate language and engaging in inappropriate and misogynistic behavior.
“The level of misogyny and racism is beyond the pale,” a Suns co-owner told ESPN, referring to Sarver’s conduct. “It’s embarrassing as an owner.”
Holmes’ report, which is very much worth reading in full, is jam-packed with anecdotes from over the years, many of which Sarver and his lawyers outright deny or claim are being misrepresented.
For instance, former head coach Earl Watson claims that Sarver entered the coaches’ room after a game against the Warriors to complain about Draymond Green being able to use the N-word, and repeatedly used the word himself, even after Watson asked him not to. Sarver said that characterization is “absolutely untrue.”
“During this conversation, I said ‘N-word’ without saying the full word,” Sarver said. “The word itself never crossed my lips. Let me be crystal clear: I never once suggested on that night (or ever) that I should be able to say the N-word because a player or a Black person uses it.”
According to Holmes, at least a half-dozen Suns staffers recalled instances where Sarver heard a story from a Black player and then retold it using the same language, including the N-word. One high-level team executive said that in 2013, Sarver also used the word to explain why he preferred Lindsey Hunter over Dan Majerle to coach a roster made up largely of Black players.
“These (N-words) need a (N-word),” Sarver said, according to that executive.
Again, Holmes’ story is worth reading in full, since we can’t relay every eyebrow-raising allegation from within it, but here are some of the other notable details from the report:
- According to Watson, he told Sarver during his first year as head coach that the team could benefit from more diversity, to which the owner replied, “I don’t like diversity.” Sarver allegedly told Watson that having a diverse staff makes it more difficult to reach agreements. Sarver denied this claim.
- Over a dozen employees told ESPN that Sarver made lewd comments in staff meetings. He allegedly made comments about his wife performing oral sex on him and claimed he needed to wear extra-large condoms. One female former staffer said she was made to feel as if women had “very little value” to Sarver. “Women are possessions,” she told ESPN. “And I think we’re nowhere close to where he thinks men are.” One former female employee told Holmes that her time with the Suns “wrecked my life” and that she contemplated suicide.
- A former female marketing employee told ESPN that Sarver would often use phrases like, “Do I own you?” when asking whether someone worked for the team. Several employees also recalled instances where Sarver referred to employees as “inventory.” The former marketing employee added: “He makes you feel like you belong to him.”
- Now-former Suns staffers told ESPN that when Phoenix was recruiting LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015, the team knew he had young children in Texas and that playing near them would be appealing. Sarver allegedly suggested to two basketball operations staffers at the time that the Suns needed to have local strippers impregnated by NBA players to give the team an edge in free agency.
- That sort of attempt at humor often made employees feel demeaned and uncomfortable, according to Holmes, who points to another example from the 2009/10 season, when Sarver entered the Suns’ training room and asked forward Taylor Griffin if he shaved his legs, then followed it up with, “Do you shave your balls too?” Former Suns account executive David Bodzin also told ESPN that in 2014, he was “pantsed” by Sarver in front of more than 60 team employees. Afterward, an HR employee allegedly said to him, with a smirk, “Please don’t sue us for sexual harassment.”
- Behavior from other members of the Suns’ executive team also contributed to a toxic workplace environment in Phoenix, as Holmes outlines. Two former employees told ESPN that one white male executive repeatedly referred to a Black co-worker as “Carlton” and asked him to “do the Carlton,” despite being told to stop. “Super racist,” one former employee told ESPN.
- Multiple staffers told Holmes that they were unwilling to bring issues to the Suns’ HR department because they feared retaliation. According to people with direct knowledge of the interactions, some employees who reported allegations of inappropriate conduct to HR were soon told they were no longer fits in the organization.
- One former HR rep said that the Suns were generally quick to settle with employees who threatened legal action. “They didn’t want the press,” the former rep told ESPN. “There were people that were wrongly terminated. And then the people who had the know-how to threaten to sue would get paid. But the ones who just couldn’t maneuver that landscape would just go away. … I would hope they would sue, because I knew they would get money. So whenever we (would) see the claims come in, I would just be like, ‘Well, at least that person’s going to get some money.'”
- During the first decade of Sarver’s tenure as Suns owner, some of the team’s part-owners explored whether it would be possible to have him removed, Holmes says. However, outside legal counsel informed them that Sarver’s position was fairly ironclad, barring serious criminal conduct or similarly egregious actions.
Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2021 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s offseason moves and look ahead to what the 2021/22 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Phoenix Suns.
Free agent signings:
Note: Exhibit 9 and 10 deals aren’t included here.
- Chris Paul: Four years, $120MM. Third year partially guaranteed. Fourth year non-guaranteed. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Cameron Payne: Three years, $19MM. Third year partially guaranteed. Re-signed using Early Bird rights.
- JaVale McGee: One year, $5MM. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
- Abdel Nader: Two years, $4.16MM. Second-year team option. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Frank Kaminsky: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Elfrid Payton: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Chandler Hutchison: Two-way contract.
Trades:
- Acquired Landry Shamet from the Nets in exchange for Jevon Carter and the draft rights to Day’Ron Sharpe (No. 29 pick).
Draft picks:
- None
Contract extensions:
Mikal Bridges: Four years, $90,000,000. Starts in 2022/23.- Landry Shamet: Four years, $42,500,000. Includes non-guaranteed third year and fourth-year team option. Starts in 2022/23.
Departing players:
- Ty-Shon Alexander
- Jevon Carter
- Torrey Craig
- Langston Galloway
- E’Twaun Moore
Other offseason news:
- Hired Bryan Gates, Michael Ruffin, and Jarrett Jack as assistant coaches; lost assistant coach Willie Green.
- Parted ways with senior vice president of basketball operations Jeff Bower.
- Dario Saric continues to recover from a torn ACL and is expected to miss most or all of the season.
- Were unable to reach a contract extension agreement with Deandre Ayton.
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap and below the tax line.
- Carrying approximately $128.4MM in salary.
- $4,536,000 of non-taxpayer mid-level exception still available ($5MM used on JaVale McGee).
- Full bi-annual exception ($3,732,000) still available.
The Suns’ offseason:
Phoenix’s 8-0 run during the 2020 summer restart at Walt Disney World portended the team’s jump in the standings in 2020/21, but even the most optimistic of Suns fans must have been pleasantly surprised by just how successful a season it was.
After finishing below .500 for six consecutive years and missing the playoffs for an entire decade, the Suns put up the second-best regular season record in the NBA (51-21) and knocked off the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, then just kept winning. Phoenix ultimately got within two games of the title before being stopped by the Bucks.
The Suns benefited from a little injury luck during their 2021 playoff run, but their success wasn’t a mirage — this is a deep, talented roster, and the club’s offseason moves reflected a desire to keep the group intact.
That meant re-signing Chris Paul, even if the idea of committing four years and $120MM to a 36-year-old may have been hard to swallow for team owner Robert Sarver. Fortunately for the Suns, only the first two years of that contract are fully guaranteed, which means that even if Paul’s performance drops off a cliff in the next year or two, it should never become a major albatross.
For comparison’s sake, CP3’s new deal includes less total guaranteed money ($75MM) than John Wall was still owed ($91.7MM) at the time the Rockets shut him down indefinitely earlier this year, and about the same amount ($74MM) that Kemba Walker was owed when he reached a buyout agreement with the Thunder.
The Suns locked up three more of their own free agents, re-signing Cameron Payne, Abdel Nader, and Frank Kaminsky. Nader and Kaminsky will play modest roles, but bringing back Payne as Paul’s backup following his career resurgence was crucial. Securing him to a new deal helped allow Phoenix to package its third-string point guard – Jevon Carter – with a first-round pick in a deal for another floor-spacing wing, Landry Shamet.
Carter is a solid defender, but reliable outside shooters like Shamet are harder to come by in today’s NBA, and the win-now Suns were unlikely to draft an immediate contributor with the No. 29 pick, so the deal made sense — especially since Phoenix was able to replace Carter on the depth chart by signing another defensive specialist, Elfrid Payton, to a minimum-salary contract.
The Suns’ other notable outside free agent addition was JaVale McGee, a solid veteran center who can help Deandre Ayton match up with star big men like Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, and Rudy Gobert in the playoffs.
Phoenix’s offseason signings didn’t push team salary for 2021/22 into tax territory, but the club projects to be a taxpayer starting in ’22/23. That knowledge informed many of the team’s remaining roster moves.
For instance, the Suns were unwilling to exercise Jalen Smith‘s 2022/23 team option after having drafted him with the 10th overall pick less than a year ago. There has simply been no room in the rotation for Smith since he arrived in Phoenix, and the club clearly didn’t expect that to change much going forward. Rather than paying Smith a $4.67MM salary in ’22/23, the team will likely sign a minimum-salary player next year to be that emergency big man off the bench.
The Suns also didn’t complete a rookie scale extension for Ayton, a former No. 1 overall pick, despite the fact that so many other members of his draft class (a record-setting 11) got new deals. Ayton’s camp reportedly refused to entertain anything less than a five-year, maximum-salary contract, which Phoenix was unwilling to offer.
Waiting until restricted free agency to work something out with Ayton is a risky move for the Suns, since it opens the door to some less desirable outcomes. Phoenix may have to match an offer sheet that features a trade kicker and an early opt-out. There’s even a chance Ayton could accept his one-year qualifying offer, putting him on track for unrestricted free agency in 2023.
But the franchise appeared more comfortable taking those risks than making such a significant financial commitment to its starting center. The best-case scenario for the Suns is that a lack of suitors with cap room results in no offer sheet for Ayton, who in turn accepts a little less than the max to remain in Phoenix, like John Collins did with Atlanta this past offseason.
The Suns did complete rookie scale extensions for Shamet and Mikal Bridges, viewing them as core players who could be locked up at a reasonable price (about $10.6MM per year for Shamet and $22.5MM annually for Bridges).
The Suns’ season:
Paul won’t play at an All-NBA level forever, but further improvements from young players such as Devin Booker, Ayton, and Bridges could offset some regression from the future Hall-of-Fame point guard. And while there are plenty of talented teams in the West, there’s not one that stands out as the clear-cut favorite to win the conference, like the Warriors were from 2016-19. Another deep playoff run is a reasonable goal for Phoenix.
One more trade to address the hole left by Dario Saric‘s ACL injury would help solidify the Suns’ place as a legit title contender, but assuming Paul doesn’t take a major step back and the team isn’t plagued by more bad injury luck, the biggest question marks in Phoenix this season may be about off-the-court issues, rather than on-court talent.
Will Ayton be distracted at all by his contract situation? Will the rumored report accusing Sarver of a series of misdeeds see the light of day? If so, will those allegations be deemed credible enough to cause an ownership shake-up?
The Suns won’t sneak up on anyone in 2021/22, so it will be fascinating to see how capable they are of defending their Western Conference crown with a target on their backs and potential off-court distractions looming.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Spotrac was used in the creation of this post.
- Suns center Deandre Ayton has met the starter criteria, assuring that his qualifying offer next summer as a restricted free agent will be worth $16.4MM. As we detailed last month, the requirements for achieving the starter criteria have been slightly adjusted this year to account for last season’s 72-game schedule, so Ayton was able to get there despite not yet totaling 82 starts across this season and 2020/21.
The Suns won’t exercise the 2022/23 option on 2020 lottery pick Jalen Smith, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Suns Exercise Cameron Johnson’s 2022/23 Option]
As a result, Smith will become an unrestricted free agent during the summer of 2022, two years before his rookie contract normally would have expired and two years after being drafted 10th overall. Phoenix – or whichever team finishes the season with Smith on its roster – won’t be able to offer him a starting salary that exceeds $4,670,160, the amount of his declined option.
Smith, 21, appeared in just 27 games as a rookie last season, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 5.8 minutes per contest. The big man flashed some promise in recent months with his play in Summer League (16.3 PPG, 12.5 RPG) and during the preseason (9.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG).
It’s rare for teams to decline options (especially third-year options) on rookie scale contracts, since it’s still so early in the player’s career and the price is typically pretty reasonable. As our tracker shows, Smith is the first player still on a rookie contract whose third-year option is being turned down this year. Jarrett Culver‘s fourth-year option is reportedly being declined by Memphis.
Passing on Smith’s ’22/23 option should allow the Suns, who project to be a taxpayer, to replace him with a minimum-salary player next season.
Reports during the offseason indicated that Smith was a potential trade chip. It’s safe to assume Phoenix will continue shopping him leading up to this year’s trade deadline, though the fact that the team turned down his option signals that he doesn’t have a ton of value.
The Suns have picked up their fourth-year team option on Cameron Johnson‘s rookie scale contract, sources tell Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link).
The move locks in Johnson’s $5,887,899 salary for the 2022/23 season. The 25-year-old forward will now be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2022 offseason. If he doesn’t sign a new deal at that point, he’d be eligible for restricted free agency in 2023.
Johnson, the 11th overall pick in the 2019 draft, was a regular member of the rotation for the Suns team that made the Western Conference Finals in 2020/21. He averaged 9.6 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 60 regular season games (24.0 MPG), then put up 8.2 PPG and 3.1 RPG with a .446 3PT% in 21 playoff contests (21.1 MPG).
The Suns also have an option decision to make on second-year center Jalen Smith, as we noted earlier today. Phoenix hasn’t yet picked up Smith’s option, according to Fischer, though that doesn’t mean the team won’t do so before today’s deadline.
[UPDATE: Suns Declining Option On Jalen Smith]