After interviewing 320 people and evaluating more than 80,000 documents over nine months, the independent investigation commissioned by the NBA finally concluded that the terms used by Robert Sarver or his general behavior “were not motivated by animosity based on race or gender”.
As a result, the league fined him $10 million and suspended him for one year from all duties as manager of the Suns and Mercury. Ten million dollars for a businessman whose fortune is estimated at 800 million dollars, it is finally little…
Why not have fired as was the case with the scandalous Donald Sterling, the former owner of the Clippers whose racist and sexist behavior was known to everyone in the middle of the NBA?
No “racial animosity” in his conduct
” Situations were dramatically different“, replied Adam Silver to reporters. ” I think we saw in the case of Donald Sterling that it was deliberate racist behavior directed at a specific group of people. While it’s hard to know what’s on someone’s heart or mind, we heard those words and then there was a follow up from the league office and it became public since Mr. Sterling spoke about his actions. In the case of Robert Sarver, we looked at the totality of the circumstances over an 18-year period in which he owned these teams. In the end, I judged that given the circumstances in which he had used this language and exhibited this admittedly indefensible behavior, it was not as strong. It is in any way inadmissible to use language and behave in this way, but it was totally different from what we saw in this previous case. I think if the investigators had made findings that his conduct was in fact motivated by racial animosity, absolutely, that would have had an impact on the end result. But that’s not what they concluded.
Another argument from Adam Silver: you can effectively dismiss an owner facing such accusations, but… it’s very complicated! Removing a team from an owner indeed requires the agreement of the other owners, and if the commissioner had had public opinion with him to do it with Donald Sterling, thanks in particular to a recording that had made an impression, that would have been a lot more complicated for Robert Sarver.
“I don’t want to rely on this legal point because, of course, it is possible to take the team away from someone in this league. But it’s very complicated, and I finally decided that it didn’t reach that level of punishment. But, for me, the consequences are serious for Mr. Sarver”added Adam Silver.
Insufficient penalties for LeBron James and Chris Paul
If the NBA has a hard time justifying these sanctions, it must also face the revolt of the players. Starting with LeBron James who feels that the league had “deceived”, and he explained on Twitter.
“I have read the Sarver articles many times now. I have to be honest… Our league clearly got it wrong. I don’t need to explain why. You read all the articles and make up your own mind. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s no place in this league for that kind of behavior. I love this league and deeply respect our leaders. But it’s not good. There is no place for misogyny, sexism and racism in a workplace. It doesn’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We see our league as an example of our values and that is not the case here. “
Chris Paul also pointed the finger at driving “unacceptable” of Robert Sarver, towards women in particular.
” Like many others, I have reviewed the report. I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read writes the Suns point guard. ” This conduct, especially towards women, is unacceptable and should never be repeated. I’m of the view that the penalties don’t really address what we can all recognize as horrible behavior. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected.. “
Players’ union executive director Tamika Tremaglio also expressed her disappointment. “I have made my position known to Adam Silver on the extent of the sanction, and I firmly believe that Mr. Sarver should never again hold a leadership position in our league.”she said in a statement.
