Adam Silver on Robert Sarver: NBA commissioner talks Suns owner

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Adam Silver can’t just tell us suspended Suns owner Robert Sarver has ‘evolved.’ He has to prove it.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

NBA commissioner Adam Silver held a press conference on Wednesday, which was his first public address since Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was fined and suspended for violating workplace standards.

Many fans were surprised that Sarver was not ousted from the league like former Clippers owner Donald Sterling. As my colleague Prince Grimes wrote, the punishment was way too lenient. NBA stars, including LeBron James, have emphasized this point.

Silver told reporters that he was in “disbelief” and “disheartened” when he discovered what transpired within the Suns organization. He stated that the conduct was indefensible.

You can watch Silver’s full press conference here.

As noted by Sean Highkin and Jonathan Feigen, Silver emphasized the transparency of the report — which you can read in its entirety here.

But the commissioner also mentioned that the league’s punishment was based on the “totality” of the circumstances, which included information not issued to the public due to confidentiality.

“I have access to information that the public doesn’t, and again, I’m able to look at the totality of the circumstances around those events in a way that we’re not able to completely bring to life the nuance that you see when you read a report or deal with it sort of in short bursts of news reporting.

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“Differentiating between the facts in this situation and Donald Sterling, is the context. I have available to me more of a context than the public can, and that’s just the nature of it, because we have investigators who then can explain what they learned in 320 interviews and say, for example, the person was there and heard those words but this is how they interpreted them in that context. In the case of Sterling, we all could make our own judgments.

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“Remember, while there were these terrible things, there were also many, many people who had very positive things to say about him through this process. Ultimately, I took all of that into account in making the decision that the one-year suspension plus the fine was appropriate.

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“I think what your litany leaves out are many very positive things he did, as well, and also leaves out how those events were characterized by those people who were directly involved in them and how they described them to the investigators.”

According to Silver, “much of the behavior” outlined in the findings occurred “much earlier” in his ownership tenure. He added that what the litany leaves out are the “many very positive things” that Sarver has done.

During the press conference, Silver boldly stated that Sarver “clearly has evolved as a person” during his time with the organization.

But what does that mean? What are we missing that Silver is alluding to but won’t actually say? It is almost impossible to imagine anything that could make Sarver’s actions any more permissible, but if Silver has such a thing, then what is it?

Within the report, Sarver told investigators that he has made “substantial personal and professional contributions” to social and racial justice causes.

His attorney, Thomas Clare, celebrated the “longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice” that Sarver has displayed. Clare argued Sarver has “proven time and time again” that he is a “tireless advocate” for social justice.

But the findings of the report paint a different picture, far more damning.

For example, as early as 2004, Sarver was “made aware” that he should not use racial slurs. Yet the report indicated that Sarver’s ugly pattern of behavior then continued until at least 2017.

That lack of discretion, as you can read below, included an instance in which he emailed the league office using the slur as recently as October 2016:

“The investigation finds that Sarver said the N-word in repeating or purporting to repeat what a Black person said: (1) during a 2004 meeting to recruit a free agent player; (2) during a 2012 or 2013 Suns team-building exercise in Phoenix; (3) after the Suns’ October 30, 2016 game against the Golden State Warriors; and (4) at least twice between 2010 and 2017 in recounting an incident involving a player’s family member. As early as 2004, Sarver was made aware that he should not use the N-word even when repeating another person’s use of it.”

Sarver also had “confrontations with Black coaches” as recently as 2019.

Silver stated that in order to understand the context of the language used, individuals have to understand the “totality of circumstances” (a phrase that the commissioner repeated six times during the press conference) to interpret the motivations.

Additionally, the report found Sarver’s behavior toward women was both inequitable and demeaning. Meanwhile, examples of Sarver’s crude and vulgar commentary regarding sex occurred as recently as 2021.

This hardly suggests that Sarver is the “evolved” person that Silver had characterized him as during the press conference.

So what is the difference between Sarver and Sterling, the former Clippers owner? Silver stated that there was a “realism” to Sterling’s actions due to the audio recording:

“I think it was more the nature of how we learned about it, how the public was aware of it in a time where — the way it was disseminated so quickly over the internet. I think there was a realism to it that exists when you have audio of something that put — back to my earlier comments, put everyone in essence in the same position I was in. We were all looking at the same record, anyone who cared to listen to Donald Sterling’s words.”

As noted by Brendon Kleen, however, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbot obtained a video of Sarver making vulgar, inappropriate comments at a funeral (!!!) in April 2021.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes reported that in May 2022, a female Suns employee resigned due to toxic and misogynistic workplace culture.

She alleged that the organization had “never been more dysfunctional” and that the culture of the team is “rapidly eroding” to the point that it had finally become intolerable.

Let’s take a step back and process that for a moment. Just a few months ago, someone who worked for the team since 2014 stated that Sarver’s workplace had never been worse than it was in this season.

Silver argued that Sterling displayed “blatant racist conduct” directed at a “select group of people” before he sold the Clippers in 2014. Sarver may not have directed his actions towards a specific group, but there is quite a bit of evidence that he showed indefensible behavior.

If the commissioner has evidence that Sarver has actually evolved, and that there is some necessary context that the public is missing, then now would surely be a good time for that to come to light.

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This piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication.

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