Sarver To Sell Suns and Mercury After Racism Allegations

Robert Sarver has announced plans to sell his two Phoenix-based basketball teams, the NBA’s Suns and WNBA’s Mercury.

The decision came after allegations of racism and misogyny during his time as the Sun’s owner and this led to Sarver being fined $10m and handed a one-year suspension.

The investigation carried out showed that Sarver used demeaning language toward female employees, including telling a pregnant employee that she would not be able to do her job after becoming a mother; making off-color comments and jokes about sex and anatomy, and yelling and cursing at employees in ways that would be considered bullying “under workplace standards”.

Many prominent players in the NBA including Lebron James and Chris Paul believe the punishment handed to Sarver was too lenient. However, in a statement released by Sarver, he believes he has done enough to atone for any mistakes. “As a man of faith, I believe in the atonement and the path to forgiveness, I expected that the commissioner’s one-year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I and so many fans love.’’ Robert Sarver

Sarver is likely to come away from his 17-year reign as Suns and Mercury owner. He bought the teams for $401m in 2004.  Forbes recently valued the Suns at $1.8bn. Sarver is the primary owner of the teams, with a one-third stake The Mercury have won three WNBA titles under Sarver’s ownership, while the Suns reached the NBA finals in the 2021-22 season.