Adam Silver's Robert Sarver Suspension Press Conference Was a Mess
By Liam McKeone
On Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver faced the music and appeared in front of the press to explain the suspension handed down to Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver this week. The NBA had concluded a year-long investigation into allegations of racism and sexism within the organization perpetuated by Sarver, and found that he did, in fact, do all the things he was accused of. But the investigation also (somehow) found Sarver's words and actions were not motivated by racist or sexist prejudices. It is partially for that reason that Sarver was banned for only one year and fined $10 million, rather than a more severe multi-year suspension or even being forced to sell his franchise as Donald Sterling was back in 2014.
Here's a collection of the quotes from the press conference.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: Former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was guilty of "blatant racist conduct directed at a select group of people," while Suns owner Robert Sarver's comments were "beyond the pale" but "wholly of a different kind" than Sterling's.
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) September 14, 2022
Silver has referred to "not knowing the context" of racist language Sarver is said to have used. Silver says, "We don't know what was in his heart" when that language was used.
— Sarah Kezele (@SarahKezele) September 14, 2022
The 43-page report mentions five instances of Sarver using the N-word in the workplace from 2004-2017.
Adam Silver said "there are particular rights here to someone who owns an NBA team as opposed to someone who is an employee," when explaining why Robert Sarver can keep his NBA team while an employee who did what he did would be fired.
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) September 14, 2022
"It's different than holding a job."
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is speaking now. He keeps referring to Robert Sarver's case having "more nuance" than the public is aware of.
— Sarah Kezele (@SarahKezele) September 14, 2022
He adds that in addition to the "terrible things" said about Sarver, "many people" had good things to say about Sarver.
Silver says he had the option to make Sarver's suspension longer but opted to stay at one year. Silver says Sarver is "taking complete accountability" and is remorseful.
— Sarah Kezele (@SarahKezele) September 14, 2022
Silver: "There's no question he's on notice. He knows that."
In fairness to Silver, this was never going to be a good press conference given the general outcry to force Sarver to sell the team. Part of his gig is being the fall man when things don't happen the way people expect them to, regardless of circumstance. And as the commissioner noted, he alone does not have the power to make Sarver sell and ultimately he is an employee of the other owners.
The strangest part of all is that Silver, by all accounts, appeared to be uncomfortable and unprepared for all these questions. It was predictable what this press conference was going to be like and it didn't seem Silver was ready to answer the many, many questions reporters had about the consequences Sarver is facing compared to the severity of his actions.
The widely-held opinion after all that's transpired is that the league fumbled this one bad. It's hard to disagree.