REPORT: The Robert Sarver Story Finally Dropped And It's Honestly Insane
Let me set the record straight here. When I read the tweet above with that quote I was wondering how insane the story was. It blew my thought process away. How the Suns were good last year, how Robert Sarver still owns the Suns and how many stories are in this article was wild. There's a lot going on so I'll try my best to keep it as coherent as possible. Let's start with a story about LaMarcus Aldridge that alone could have been a massive attack on Sarver. (h/t ESPN)
When the Suns were recruiting free agent LaMarcus Aldridge in the summer of 2015, the team knew that Aldridge had young children in Texas and that playing near them was appealing. During the recruitment, Sarver remarked to two basketball operations staffers that the Suns needed to have local strippers impregnated by NBA players so those players would have children in the Phoenix area and feel obliged to be closer to them, giving the Suns a potential edge in free agency, the now-former staffers said.
Uhh what the hell? Now I get you try to do anything possible to sign players. But suggesting you should have local strippers impregnated by NBA players just to keep them in Phoenix? The fact that it's not even the most disgusting part of the story says a lot about Sarver and the allegations against him. You know, you could just be a good owner? Crazy idea on how you'd get players to want to play for you. You could work with Ayton on the max contract and keep a young center who was a major piece of getting to the Finals. Just spitballing some ideas here.
Then there's this.
After the loss, Suns majority owner Robert Sarver entered the coaches locker room, Watson told ESPN.
"You know, why does Draymond Green get to run up the court and say [N-word]," Sarver, who is white, allegedly said, repeating the N-word several times in a row.
"You can't say that," Watson, who is Black and Hispanic, told Sarver.
"Why?" Sarver replied. "Draymond Green says [N-word]."
"You can't f---ing say that," Watson said again.
What in the living hell? Oh and it's that not enough.
Sarver once used the N-word when trying to explain to a staffer why he preferred hiring Lindsey Hunter over Dan Majerle as head coach in 2013, according to a high-level executive who heard the remark. Hunter was a first-year Suns player development coordinator while Majerle was in his fifth year as a Suns associate head coach.
"These [N-words] need a [N-word]," Sarver told the staffer of his largely Black team, according to the executive.
Sarver again cited race as the reason the team needed to hire Watson as head coach in 2016, a former Suns basketball executive said: A young Black coach could better relate to Black players, Sarver reasoned, and could "speak their language."
How the hell does this become someone's thought process is beyond me. Listen, this is basically reading like Donald Sterling. I have no idea how Sarver gets out of this without losing the Suns. There are countless similar stories and interviews in this article, which I suggest you read for yourself. The scary thing is these aren't old stories. This isn't 'oh times were different' excuse. No. This is regular day. There are stories with Sarver and Ayton.
The Suns play tonight. We saw the Clippers make a statement after the Donald Sterling situation and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Suns do something too. Just an insane story all around.