Never has the discussion been focused so little on basketball during the NBA’s annual media day. And for good reason. The league has been embroiled in turmoil throughout arguably its wildest offseason in history.
Roughly a third of the NBA’s 30 teams faced questions about off-court dynamics ranging from awkward to morally and legally reprehensible, and let us just say team personnel are not always equipped to be public relations spokespeople for their organization’s failings. Players have commanded empowerment across the multibillion-dollar corporation, and the league has repaid them by positioning them to answer for its faults.
‘That’s not the Robert Sarver that I know’
We are two weeks removed from the NBA suspending Phoenix Suns managing partner Robert Sarver for the season following an investigation into allegations of racism, misogyny and other workplace misconduct. Widespread criticism of the league’s decision not to ban him for life spilled into last week, when Sarver announced plans to sell the team and passed blame onto those unwilling to forgive his abhorrent conduct.
The Suns did not make interim team owner Sam Garvin available to the media, which left general manager James Jones as the face of the organization on Monday. Jones had previously defended Sarver in the days after ESPN’s Baxter Holmes uncovered many of the allegations the NBA’s investigation would later confirm.
“None of what’s been said describes the Robert Sarver I know, respect and like — it just doesn’t,” Jones said in a statement issued by the Suns in October 2021, alongside Sarver’s own denial of any wrongdoing.
Jones had to answer for that on Monday.
“When I made my statements last year, I stand by that that’s my experience, and I still to this day can’t speak for others and their experience, but now that we know, those things aren’t acceptable, and they’re not cool,” Jones told reporters gathered in Phoenix. “I think those who have been impacted deserve our respect and our support. I’m here for that, but I won’t discount what I said, because it was my experience.”
He should not have issued a statement undermining the experiences of others, and he certainly should not be standing by that statement now. We all read the report, and Jones, as an executive in the organization, is responsible for speaking for others, like it or not. What Sarver did was disgraceful. Period. End of sentence.
Such is the problem when employees must answer for their employer’s…
