Shams: Robert Sarver is Selling the Phoenix Suns

[Biff]

His "I'm only selling because we live in an unforgiving climate" remark just makes him reek even more. You aren't a godly man, Robert, nobody believes that crap. You're an overly privileged and petulant child in the body of a middle-aged and rapidly becoming old man. Just sell the damn team and keep your mouth shut and go away so Suns fans can forget you were ever involved with the franchise.

[jokeboy86]

I gotta admit I'm really shocked that he relented so quickly. I kept hearing how much he'd fight tooth and nail for his ownership and that he'd drag this out to the bitter end and start naming names if he were pushed out. Ultimately he gave it up fairly fast with only a few players publicly calling him out and some tepid reaction from sponsors. Makes me wonder if there were some behind the scenes pressure and negotiation from Silver and the other owners. Or maybe he just wanted to cash out while the moment is right. The Suns will likely sell for $2 to $3 billion right now; plenty of incentive to wash your hands of the drama, take the money and run.

I wonder if the NBAPA, Suns players and sponsors were willing to go even further and if that spooked Silver and Sarver too much. I guess the death knell really sounded once Paul came out bc if ur most important player(or Booker, Ayton or James Jones) doesnt come to your defense.

The NBAPA and the players have officially put all NBA front offices and owners on notice. But they gotta be careful cause it can go both ways. The next time a player is caught or proven to do something egregious the wolves will be out and will demand no mercy be shown as it is with non-players

[Lalouie]

unfortunate that it takes something like this to force a change in ownership.

owners sit on their petunias and are just happy to own something. there's at least three franchise that need to be sold

[Bulliever2020]

Can ESPN please do an expose on Jerry Reinsdorf and family next? Please?

[ShootersShoot]

He's going to be more cheap owner than Sarver

Bron gonna be the first Owner/GM in the league

You aren't too familiar with the league's early years, obviously.

Lol, I guess not but it would be really intriguing to see it happen today.

[Crives]

I gotta admit I'm really shocked that he relented so quickly. I kept hearing how much he'd fight tooth and nail for his ownership and that he'd drag this out to the bitter end and start naming names if he were pushed out. Ultimately he gave it up fairly fast with only a few players publicly calling him out and some tepid reaction from sponsors. Makes me wonder if there were some behind the scenes pressure and negotiation from Silver and the other owners. Or maybe he just wanted to cash out while the moment is right. The Suns will likely sell for $2 to $3 billion right now; plenty of incentive to wash your hands of the drama, take the money and run.

Almost certainly. This was probably one of those backdoor, "walk away on your own terms and we won't make a scene" type deals

It's amazing that Sarver bought this team in 2004 for $400M and is about to get some big time money out of this. Even if the team sells for $3B, his stake(35%) would be $1.05B before taxes and after capital gains(30%) he'll still be walking away with a cool $700M+.

May as well sell because professional sports especially the NBA is now a billionaire club and Sarver just wouldn't be able to keep up and honestly karma caught up to him not only in the way he wasted Steve Nash's time when the team was on the verge of going to the finals and possibly winning one, but in light of the investigation that came out regarding the toxic workplace culture he allowed to happen under his watch he's gotta go.

Robert will be laughing his butt off over how much he actually spent to buy the Suns not to mention he'll be walking away with a bigger bag than he came in with before.

Would have made more in the stock market over that time period

[JimmyPlopper]

I love to see consequences for actions

[og15]

He caved. Didn’t think it would happen, at least not this quickly.

Probably in his best interest. If sponsors start pulling out and people don't want to work with the team, etc, then owning the team is no longer very fun.

He's now going to get a good sum, much more than what he paid for it, so it's not like these guys lose ownership and are just kicked to the curb.

[darmani]

With our luck he's gonna sell it to Donald Trump.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Sterling, forced out. NBA had to win the court case.

Sarver, caved in by pressure, no need for courts.

The big rumor right now in the new Suns ownership is former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger's a close friend of Chris Paul, perhaps the only move that could convince CP3 to stay with Suns. Anyone else, odds are he could leave. Won't matter anyway, as Paul is no longer the Point God he was. He needs a true superstar now to help save his broken Hall Of Fame career, he needs Kevin Durant or LeBron James. Suns will have to trade for Durant from Nets (people lie all the time for the sake of buying time for suitors), or trade CP3 to Lakers and give him that free Finals pass (because Lakers made the NBA and saved the NBA from bankruptcy).

If he doesn't get traded to Lakers or Durant doesn't come, we might see Paul go to another team that is troubled. So far, we've seen Sterling and Sarver sell their teams in Paul's presence. I believe in the Rule Of Three. If he is traded to another team and another ownership scandal surfaces resulting in an ownership change, then we really have to talk about Chris Paul as the greatest culture changer in NBA history.

[schnakenpopanz]

there is a helluva party on the suns board. feel free to join

Gesendet von meinem SM-G780F mit Tapatalk

[miamiheat319]

Bet I'll buy it

[Swish1906]

Why people think the NBA would allow an active player to own a team? Specially the tampering and teaming up GOAT

[TwitterFingers]

I don’t know whether he deserved to get canceled or not. I had no interest in this story, but if I were him and everyone in the league was calling for me to sell my team then I would just say fine and cash out.

[TheNetsFan]

That guy ruined people’s lives for 18 years so good riddance to him and congratulations to suns and mercury fans.

While he may be an a-hole, this I can't agree with. If a work environment or manager is toxic, you find a new job & submit your resignation as soon as soon as you find one. HR will be in the owner's ear if complaints & turnover are high.

[vulture]

That guy ruined people’s lives for 18 years so good riddance to him and congratulations to suns and mercury fans.

While he may be an a-hole, this I can't agree with. If a work environment or manager is toxic, you find a new job & submit your resignation as soon as soon as you find one. HR will be in the owner's ear if complaints & turnover are high.

That’s really not how the corporate world works. You don’t just quit the job before going to HR and in this case
HR works for him.
There Were several complaints and lawsuits that he settled. Maybe you should read the espn article before getting into this subject.

[The Laker Kid]

Come on guys, now's our opportunity to make Bring Your Own Pets a reality!

[whitehops]

He caved. Didn’t think it would happen, at least not this quickly.

Probably in his best interest. If sponsors start pulling out and people don't want to work with the team, etc, then owning the team is no longer very fun.

yeah the team's value at this point is fairly guaranteed, but if sponsors, fans or players boycott the team then the team's value could plummet.

[shangrila]

I'll admit, I didn't see this coming.

Hopefully whoever takes over is better, for both employees and the fans.

[TheNetsFan]

That guy ruined people’s lives for 18 years so good riddance to him and congratulations to suns and mercury fans.

While he may be an a-hole, this I can't agree with. If a work environment or manager is toxic, you find a new job & submit your resignation as soon as soon as you find one. HR will be in the owner's ear if complaints & turnover are high.

That’s really not how the corporate world works. You don’t just quit the job before going to HR and in this case
HR works for him.
There Were several complaints and lawsuits that he settled. Maybe you should read the espn article before getting into this subject.

I did read the ESPN article, and I've been working in the corporate world for over 2 decades. People resign and air grievances in their exit interviews all the time.