The Phoenix Suns held their media day on Monday, which would normally be about nothing but the upcoming 2022-23 NBA season. There was definitely talk of basketball, but there was one non-basketball topic every player, executive, and coach had to comment on: Robert Sarver, the soon-to-be former owner of the Suns and Phoenix Mercury.
The NBA suspended Sarver for one year and fined him $10 million after an investigation confirmed that he’d acted inappropriately in the workplace, fostered a hostile working environment, and said the N-word several times in front of employees. Shortly after that punishment was announced, Sarver said he had started the process of selling both the Suns and the Mercury.
The first thing most players (and head coach Monty Williams) were asked about was Sarver’s actions and his punishment. Here’s what Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Williams said.
Chris Paul
Paul said the report was “tough to read, and disturbing.” He said that he regularly spoke to commissioner Adam Silver about the Sarver situation, as did Steph Curry, CJ McCollum, and Kyle Lowry. He also sent his thoughts and prayers to those who were directly affected by Sarver’s actions.
Devin Booker
Booker was asked about his first reaction to the Sarver report, and he called it “tough.”
“That’s not the Robert Sarver that I know,” Booker said. “That’s not the Robert Sarver that welcomed me to Phoenix with open arms. But at the same time I’m not insensitive to everyone who’s involved in this situation, and I understand that everyone’s personal experience with other people are always going to be different. But it’s tough to read because that’s not the person I know.”
Booker also doesn’t think the Sarver situation will be a distraction since he’s now selling the team, but it could have been if Sarver had decided to hold onto the Suns.
Head coach Monty Williams
Williams said he was “in shock” when he heard the news about Sarver, and had a “moment of disbelief” when he started reading the bullet points of the investigation report. He wondered how this news would affect the team and the people surrounding it, but said he wants to keep in mind the people who were directly affected by Sarver’s words and actions.
“I’m no different than you all,” Williams said. “There was a range of emotions and states of mind that I dealt with.”
Williams said that he didn’t want to speak to the players as a group about the Sarver report. But having spent so much time in the gym with the guys, he…