NBA bans Phoenix Suns owner for 1 year, hits him with $10 million fine / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AFP-SCANPIX Credit AFP-SCANPIX

NBA has suspended Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver for one year from the Suns and Mercury organization based on a league investigation, according to the official NBA statement.

Sarver has also been fined $10 million and completed a training program focused on respect and appropriate workplace conduct.

The independent investigation included interviews with 320 people and an evaluation of over 80,000 documents.

The NBA says it will donate Robert Sarver's $10 million fine to organizations that are committed to addressing race and gender-based issues in and outside the workplace.

Full NBA statement can be found here.

Last November, ESPN reported that Sarver runs and sets the tone for an organization that is "toxic" and "hostile".

The ESPN report, based on interviews with more than 70 former and current Suns employees, alleged Sarver has made numerous racist and sexist remarks during the 17 years he has owned the franchise - comments that apparently have cast a pall over the team.

He also owns the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA.

"There's literally nothing you could tell me about him from a misogynistic or race standpoint that would surprise me," a former Suns basketball executive told ESPN.

The report was filled with examples of Sarver's alleged use of the "N"-word, of comments about his genitals, and remarks he purportedly made about him wanting strippers to get pregnant by players so that they would choose Phoenix in free agency to be near their children.

Those interviewed said the 60-year-old Sarver also fostered a culture that allowed team executives to behave in a similar manner.

Sarver became the Suns' majority owner in 2004. An Arizona native, he made his fortune in banking and real estate.

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