A day after Robert Sarver, owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, was suspended one year and fined $10 million by the NBA as a result of an investigation into the Suns franchise, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James addressed the issue on social media.
The NBA announced the punishment Tuesday, saying 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.”
James, in a series of two tweets Wednesday, illustrated that he “read through the Sarver stories a few times now. I gotta be honest…Our league definitely got this wrong. I don’t need to explain why. Y’all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I’m gonna say it again, there is no place in this league for that kind of behavior. I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn’t right. There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it.”
While the NBA stated that Sarver “cooperated fully with the investigative process,” league sources told ESPN’s Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday that he was unaccepting of the idea that he deserved a one-year suspension and a $10 million fine for his behavior. The punitive part of the process became largely acrimonious, sources said.
The investigation, led by New York-based law firm Wachtell Lipton, found that Sarver “engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards, as reflected in team and league rules and policies.”
Source : ESPN
