No one is perfect. And perfection cannot be expected of any prospective WNBA team owner or any person for that matter.
But there are some things – such as racism and misogyny that go past the typical flaws of an average human being. These things are part of one’s character and some things are simply unforgivable.
Take for example Robert Sarver, the owner (or governor in NBA terms) of the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury. He has earned the ire of Arizona basketball fans over the years for what has been perceived as a streak of penny pinching when it comes to the Suns. And even though the Mercury advanced to this past season’s WNBA Finals, the Merc got dispatched by the Chicago Sky in four games and Phoenix is still in search of its first title since 2014 when they defeated those very Sky.
Apparently, basketball fans in Arizona now have reason to look with even more of a side eye at Sarver for reasons that go far beyond basketball.
Yesterday, a bombshell report was published by ESPN’s Baxter Holmes detailing who the real Robert Sarver is. Let us simply say Sarver is not exactly someone to nominate for man of the year.
The in-depth report details years of racism, sexism and all-around sleazy behavior on the part of the Mercury and Suns boss. The report mentioned how Sarver would have no problem casually tossing the N-word from his mouth, how he did not value women that worked for him as much as the men and how he would get into deep conversations with people he worked with about how his wife would pleasure him sexually.
The reported exchange between Sarver and then Suns coach Earl Watson as well as what Sarver is said to have remarked about the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green paint a picture of a man whose calendar still is stuck in the 1800s, has crimson flags in one of his offices (or many) and has a deep-seeded disdain for the very Black players on the Suns and Mercury whose checks he signs.
The Sarver bombshell was teased some weeks ago, which prompted a statement from the organization to be placed on the social media accounts of both the Mercury and Suns. Then – the bombshell dropped and it was a big one.
After the report came out, the NBA announced it opened an investigation in response to the ESPN report. Given that Sarver is a WNBA team owner, surely commissioner Cathy Engelbert has to be watching the developments with a close eye as well.
The primary fact in all of this is that Sarver cannot be kept around – not as an NBA owner and certainly not as a WNBA team owner. The report essentially confirms that Sarver stands against everything that the W claims it stands for in terms of fairness, social justice and equality.
How must the Mercury players feel? It probably makes sense to many on the Mercury side of the Suns-Mercury operation as to why their playoff games were moved so much out of Footprint Arena. Sarver probably views the NBA’s Suns as a bigger priority than the Mercury even though the Mercury have won three championships in the same frame to the Suns’ zero, the Mercury’s X-Factor is one of the most passionate fanbases in the entire WNBA and Suns players supported the Mercury throughout their playoff run this season past.
In many ways, the report has essentially made Sarver the new Kelly Loeffler – a toxic pox on the league that players vociferously worked themselves to get rid of even if the league would not do it itself.
The longer the Sarver issue remains unaddressed by the WNBA and the longer Sarver is allowed to remain as the Mercury’s owner, he becomes an even bigger public relations problem for the W. It as a league cannot put out statements and show initiatives talking about social justice and inclusivity when an owner of one of its three Original Eight teams stands for everything but that.
Just as Renee Montgomery, Larry Gottesdiener and Suzanne Abair teamed up to rescue the Atlanta Dream from Loeffler’s dirty hands, we are more than confident someone who is deep-pocketed in Arizona will be willing to step up and rescue the Mercury (and Suns) from the racist and misogynistic clutches of Sarver.
Sarver is a man who would probably fit in better as an NFL owner given the weakness of the NFL’s players union and how its 32 owners suites are simply overflowing with sleaze. But the NBA and WNBA each have strong unions and even though both the Association and the W have their share of flaws, they at least back up their lip service about player empowerment.
In a sense, it is somewhat good that both of Phoenix’s professional basketball teams – the Mercury and Suns – suffered Finals heartbreak in their championship series with the Chicago Sky and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively. If the Mercury and Suns had won championships, there would have been the possibility Sarver would have been rewarded with two parades through downtown Phoenix.
Given what we now know about this man, the players would have deserved the honor and the adoration of Arizona residents, but Sarver should not be allowed within an 80-mile radius of either parade route.
One can only imagine that players for both the Mercury and Suns probably feel the same about Sarver right now as the Dream players did about Loeffler and how Los Angeles Clippers felt about Donald Sterling when revelations of his racist ways were also uncovered.
Sarver is simply the latest bit of basketball owner sleaze that has been uncovered by a media report – who knows what else has been happening behind closed doors of certain NBA and WNBA boardrooms (looking with a real close eye at the Dallas Wings – remember “Blocks for the Blue,” anyone?).
Today’s sports fan is smarter, has access to more information and is more sophisticated to understand that Sarver is not the only Sarver just as Loeffler was not the only Loeffler and Sterling was not the only Sterling. The revelations about Sarver should be a wake-up call for both Adam Silver and Cathy Engelbert to clean both Associations of every Sarver – not just Phoenix’s.
