Adam Silver Can’t Give Lifetime NBA Ban To Donald Sterling Without Doing Same For Robert Sarver

Here’s a joke without a punch line: In addition to Adam Silver slapping Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver with a one-year suspension this week for making racist and misogynist remarks, the NBA commissioner gave the guy a $10 million fine.

Only a $10 million fine for somebody who thinks it’s hilarious to throw around the N-word in casual settings?

Yeah, hold the rim shot.

According to the Arizona RepublicREPUBLIC
, Sarver’s net worth sits between $400 million and $800 million. The newspaper added, “(The fine) amounts to about 1.17% of the high end of his reported net worth. To further put that percentage into perspective, it would represent about $700 for someone making $60,000 a year.”

Which means Silver’s fine is nothing worth mentioning, and the same goes for that suspension. After all, this same commissioner banned former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA for life in April 2014 for making racist remarks during private conversations.

That permanent ousting of Sterling from the league was exactly right, but whatever punishment this is supposed to be for Sarver is exactly wrong, and somebody named LeBron James agreed through a couple of tweets.

What’s the difference between Sterling saying racist stuff on an audio recording (“You can sleep with {black people}. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is … not to bring them to my games.”) and an NBA-sanctioned report conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz discovering Sarver used the N-word at least five times “when recounting the statements of others” while owning the Suns and the WNBA’s MercuryMER
?

There isn’t a difference, but Silver disagreed Wednesday when questioned in New York by reporters.

“I think what we saw in the case of Donald Sterling was blatant racist conduct directed at a select group of people,” Sterling said. “While it’s difficult to know what is in someone’s heart or in their mind, we heard those words. … In the case of Robert Sarver, I’d say, first of all, we’re looking at the totality of circumstances over an 18-year period in which he’s owned these teams, and ultimately we made a judgment — I made a judgment — that in the circumstances in which he had used that language and that behavior, that while, as I said, it was indefensible, is not strong enough.

“It’s beyond the pale in every possible way to use language and behave that way, but that it was wholly of a different kind than what we saw in that earlier case.”

No, commissioner.

Perception is stronger than reality.

In this case, perception is reality, especially if you go by an ESPN.com investigative piece in November 2021 that featured a slew of allegations regarding Sarver’s racism and misogyny during his 17 years as Suns owner.

Those allegations ranged from former Suns head coach Earl Watson (who is Black and Hispanic) urging Sarver (who isn’t) in October 2016 to stop casually using the N-word to Sarver telling one of his staffers in 2013 why he wished to hire Lindsey Hunter (Black) over Dan Majerle (White) as head coach in 2013: “These [N-words] need a [N-word].”

Not a good look, and get this: Silver admitted Wednesday he knew more about the Sarver situation than what he was sharing in public, but Silver said a confidentially agreement barred him from going further. He also said he couldn’t fine Sarver more than $10 million due to a league rule.

Hmmmm.

Silver said in 2014 he only was allowed to fine Sterling a maximum of $2.5 million. Which means the NBA changed that rule within the last eight years.

Which brings us to the present: Since Silver told reporters Wednesday of his inability to tell Sarver to get lost forever from the NBA (“I don’t have certain authority by virtue of this organization, and that’s what I exercise. I don’t have the right to take away his team.”), the league should change whatever rule it has that (ahem) doesn’t allow Silver to “take away his team.”

Like now.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/terencemoore/2022/09/15/adam-silver-cant-give-lifetime-nba-ban-to-donald-sterling-without-doing-same-for-robert-sarver/