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NEW YORK — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday he doesn’t “know how to measure” the punishment Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver received for making racist and misogynistic remarks compared to what would have happened in team or league official, saying he had “no right” to take away Sarver’s team.
“There are special rights here for someone who owns an NBA team as opposed to someone who is an employee,” Silver said during a news conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel Wednesday afternoon at the end of the league’s fall Board of Governors meeting.
It also came a day after the league announced that Sarver would receive a $10 million fine and a one-year suspension following an ESPN op-ed in November 2021 detailing allegations of racism and misogyny during his 17 years as owner of Server.
“The equivalent of a $10 million fine and a one-year suspension, I don’t know how to square that with a job,” Silver said, “but I have certain powers under this organization and that’s what I exercised. I have no right to take away his team. I don’t want to dwell on that legal point because, of course, there can be a process to take away someone’s team in this league. It’s very engaging and I ultimately made the decision that it didn’t rise to that level.
“But to me, the ramifications here for Mr. Sarver are severe. From a reputational point of view, it’s hard to even make those comparisons to someone who commits an inappropriate act in the workplace in some anonymous way versus what is now a huge public issue surrounding that person. There is no clear answer here other than owning property. The rights that come with owning an NBA team — how that’s settled in our constitution, what it would take to remove that team from his control — is a very difficult process, and it’s different than holding a job.”
The NBA announced Sarver’s punishment Tuesday along with the release of the full report prepared by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The investigation found that during his time with the Suns and Mercury, Sarver used the N-word at least five times “when recounting the statements of others.”
It also uncovered “instances of unfair treatment of officials,” the league said in a statement announcing the conclusion of the investigation and punishment, including “sex-related comments” and inappropriate comments about the appearance of officials.
At several points Wednesday, Silver referred to the fact that he was aware of more than was publicly shared in the report, and that it shaped his view of the situation in a way that he could not share because of a confidentiality agreement signed as part of the investigation.
“From a personal perspective, I was somewhat incredulous about what I learned that happened over the last 18 years in the Suns organization,” Silver said. “I was saddened by it, disheartened. I want to apologize again to the former and in some cases current employees of the Phoenix Suns for what they had to go through. There is absolutely no excuse for that. We paid attention. , of course, have been following up on what was said since we issued these findings. Let me repeat, the behavior is inexcusable.
“However, I will say that what I have access to is a little bit different than what is public because while we were issuing this report, in the process of the investigation, the outside counsel who conducted this review is committed to confidentiality to anyone who requests it , which was the vast majority of the interviewees, plus they looked at cell phones, something like 80,000 documents. So I have access to information that the public doesn’t have, and again I can look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding these events… I think that’s what makes me puts you ultimately in a different position as the person who has to make the ultimate judgment about what is a fair outcome here.”
Silver was also asked repeatedly about one particular line in the league’s statement announcing both the release of the report and the suspension: “The investigation did not find that Mr. Sarver’s workplace misconduct was motivated by racial or gender animosity.”
When asked if he personally agreed with that statement, Silver said only, “I accept” the findings of the commission that conducted the investigation. Of the five members of this committee, two were black men and two women.
“I accept their work,” Silver said. “To follow what we think is due process here, to bring in a law firm, to have them spend essentially nine months on this, to do the extensive types of interviews that they can, I can’t put myself in their shoes.” I respect the work that we have done.
“… The fact is, I’m given a factual record and then I make decisions based on that. I accept what they find.”
However, Silver said those findings were relevant in determining the severity of Sarver’s punishment.
“It was fitting,” Silver said. “I think if they had made findings that in fact his behavior was motivated by racial animus, that absolutely would have had an impact on the bottom line here.” But that’s not what they found.”
Silver also said at no point during the investigation did he discuss the prospect of Sarver voluntarily agreeing to sell the Suns.
“Robert Sarver and I talked several times along the way and I let the investigation unfold,” Silver said. “We didn’t pre-decide it.”
Sarver’s investigation and punishment have been compared to how the NBA handled the situation with former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014, when Silver banned Sterling for life after audio recordings of Sterling making racist comments.
However, Silver disagrees that the two situations should be compared to each other.
“I think what we saw in the case of Donald Sterling was blatantly racist behavior directed at a select group of people. Although it is difficult to know what is in someone’s heart or mind, we have heard these words.
“… In the case of Robert Sarver, I would say, first of all, we look at the totality of the circumstances over an 18-year period that he owned those teams, and ultimately we made a judgment, I made a judgment, that under the circumstances , in which he used that language and that conduct, that, though, as I said, was indefensible, is not strong enough. , but that it is of a very different kind from what we saw in this earlier case.”
As for Sarver’s punishment itself, the $10 million fine was the maximum the league could impose. The one-year suspension, on the other hand, could have been longer, Silver said, but ultimately his decision was to make it a full calendar year.
He also said that Sarver, in conversations with Silver, took “full responsibility and appears to be fully remorseful.”
However, Silver added that Sarver will be “on notice” going forward.
“In terms of future behavior, there’s no question he’s been noticed,” Silver said. “He knows that. I also think if you look at the chronology of the report, most of this activity dates back, most of the inappropriate activity goes back many years.
“But you know, every day is a new day. It’s not like we’ve closed the book. We have closed the book on these historical incidents. But whatever it is going forward, I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s going to have it scrutinized in terms of his behavior and his speech.”
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