The NBA has been much more active and responsive to issues involving race, social justice and equality.
The league vastly outshines the NFL, NHL and MLB in the fight against racism, bigotry, sexual harassment and other disgusting practices.
This week, the NBA stumbled in the pursuit they traditionally excel at.
On Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the punishment levied against Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner, Robert Sarver.
With examples such as the support of Black Lives Matter and the most recent announcement that the league would defer to voting and not play on Election Day, many thought Sarver’s punishment would be heavy, reminiscent of the successful effort to oust former Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.
Sterling was infamously, and rightfully, forced to sell the team in 2014 after audio recordings of Sterling making racist comments surfaced. Silver, barely three months into his commissioner role, banned Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million in response. Referring to the NBA’s Constitution and By-Laws, Silver also urged the league’s Board of Governors to initiate a forced sale of the team.
After much legal wrangling, and player pressure, Sterling was forced to sell the team for $2 billion to former Mircosoft executive and current owner, Steve Ballmer.
The NBA faced a similar scenario involving Sarver.
After allegations of racism, sexism and bullying, the NBA/WNBA opened up an investigation into his behavior. The result? A 36-page report from contracted law firm Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz, detailing and verifying his actions through interviews with more than 100 individuals.
That’s not something you can bury.
So Silver took action, announcing that Sarver was banned for one year and fined $10 million.
That made the sports world push pause.
It seemed like a slam dunk that Sarver would go the way of Sterling, especially after almost 40 pages of witness testimony.
But no. It wasn’t to be.
In response, Silver faced an inferno of backlash, at first from the media and then from the players including LeBron James and former NBPA President, Chris Paul.
“Like many others, I reviewed the report. I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read,” tweeted Paul. “This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated.
“I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior,” he continued. “My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.”
“I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn’t right,” tweeted LeBron. “There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it.”
Silver attempted to rationalize the surprisingly light punishment by stating that there was no racial animus found and that he didn’t “have the right to take away his team.”
“I have certain authority by virtue of this organization, and that’s what I exercise,” said Silver. “I don’t have the right to take away his team. I don’t want to rest on that legal point because of course there could be a process to take away someone’s team in this league. It’s very involved, and I ultimately made the decision that it didn’t rise to that level. But, to me, the consequences are severe here on Mr. Sarver.”
That explanation, predictably, immediately backfired.
This is the NBA, not the NFL, where an owner like the Commanders’ Daniel Snyder can remain in power despite years and years of dispciable and egregious behavior.
This is professional basketball, where WNBA players fearlessly supported the Black Lives Matter movement regardless of who felt offended.
With the report detailing Sarver’s use of the “N” word on multiple occasions (he said he was repeating quotes from others), frequently berating both male and female employees and fostering a toxic workplace environment, this should be Donald Sterling 3.0.
Instead, it’s resulted in disappointment and frustration.
And, most importantly to note, now the attention has turned to the players.
Again.
It seems that unless the players unite and force true action, soft-handed league and team responses are the norm across all sports.
In the Sterling case, players threatened not to play if he retained ownership. They flexed their collective muscles to force Sterling’s sale, which was the right thing to do.
Yet that’s not something they should have to do, and definitely not do again.
Ideally, the ability to force a sale in response to serious, proven allegations should be within the league’s power. But when you’re dealing with billionaires, they’re not just giving up ownership, especially not without an all-out battle.
So once again, the players face a decision.
Do they wield their time, energy and effort to do what should, theoretically, be handled at the league level? Or do they simply express their frustration and get ready for their respective seasons.
With this much evidence, NBA and WNBA players should unite like Voltron and slay (figuretively) the Sarver Robeast.
Yet while it’s the correct thing to do, for that type of behavior shouldn’t be allowed to exist or persist, it’s a shame that, once again, players must fight for the right thing to be done instead of acknowledging and applauding the actions of the league they play in.
Hopefully they remember this when the next CBA comes up and fight just as hard to address it then so that they don’t have to fight just as hard to address it when similar incidents rear their ugly heads again.
