I kind of doubt that Saver played any role in her decision. It was known since last November that there were allegations of his misconduct. Charles certainly should have known the situation there when she signed with the Mercury. Since Sarver was under a microscope by the time she arrived, seems unlikely the was personally insulted by anything related to him.
In November, ESPN’s Baxter Holmes published a bombshell report that included more than 70 current and former team employees’ claims against Sarver.
BTW - it seems that Sarver got off pretty light compared to Sterling who was forced to sell his team. The former Hawks owners also sold the team in 2014 over some racially insensitive remarks and emails uncovered in their own internal investigation, though that was not "forced" by the NBA (but perhaps strongly encouraged.) The prior Hawks owners were a mess before the sale and were suing each other. Ironically both Sterling and the former Hawks owners were rewarded by surprisingly large profits on the franchise sales. Apparently it pays to be an idiot owner of an NBA team because buyers think it would easy to improve the team.....
And then of course Adam Silver's press conference talking about Sarver was a disaster. Link to the full press conference here: twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1LyGBqeyBlYKN
As people are saying, remember that commissioners of leagues work for and serve the teams' owners, period. That is their primary job.
Last Edit: Sept 14, 2022 19:25:57 GMT -5 by Deleted
There's already reports of multiple parties interested in buying the Suns and keeping them in Phoenix. Of course, no mention if any of them want to keep the Mercury.
There's already reports of multiple parties interested in buying the Suns and keeping them in Phoenix. Of course, no mention if any of them want to keep the Mercury.
The Mercury have always drawn well, so I don't see why new owners would not want keep them. Plus, I figure Silver will tell the bidders if they want to win they need to buy the Mercury.
Though I don't love the idea of a prospective Suns owner having to buy the Mercury solely out of obligation. It'd be nice if the NBA & W could try to facilitate the sale of the teams in their respective leagues separately first – if no prospective entity seeking to keep the Merc in town materializes, then would it be okay to make the Suns & Merc a package deal imo.
AFAIC, this isn't the same situation as the sale of the T-Wolves & Lynx where Glen Taylor was able to do everything behind the scenes.
Sarver stands to make about $2,000,000,000 on the sale. He'll make millions more in speaking engagements railing against "cancel culture". His reputation won't be damaged in the eyes of anyone he cares about. All he's really losing are courtside seats.
Still, I see no reason they would want to change the status quo of the franchises if they think it all is worth $3 billion. I also think the optics of dumping the WNBA team while paying a small fortune for the NBA will look bad and wealthy owners also value their public image.