For Sale: The Phoenix Suns and Mercury — and the NBA’s dignity
Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul: rising from the ashes © Paul Sancya/AP
The National Basketball Association‘s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA‘s Phoenix Mercury are for sale, but the transactions may carry as much reputational damage for the NBA as they are likely to be empire-building chips for a lucky billionaire.
On Wednesday, the teams’ current owner Robert Sarver said he would put both clubs up for sale, just a week after Sarver was handed a one-year suspension and $10mn fine for using racist language and demeaning female employees in the front office, including saying the N-word at least five times and denying professional opportunities to a pregnant staffer.
Sarver’s behaviour was documented in a 36-page independent investigation commissioned by the league, confirming an earlier report by ESPN, incorporating interviews with hundreds of current and former employees during the real estate developer’s 18-year ownership period. Almost immediately after the NBA levied its sanctions, star players including LeBron James and Suns point guard Chris Paul blasted the punishment as too lenient, and sponsor PayPal threatened to end its relationship with the club.
Sarver buckled under the pressure, writing in a statement that he’d hoped a year’s suspension would give him enough time to make amends, “but in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that is no longer possible”.
The looming sales now create an awkward dynamic for the rarefied club of NBA owners: just a week ago, commissioner Adam Silver went to great pains to defend their weak punishment, and now all stakeholders — including Sarver — stand to benefit if the Suns and Mercury sell in the region of $2bn, based on a current valuation, and well above the $401mn Sarver paid for them in 2004.
Front offices and boutique investment firms have speculated for months that the Suns may come up for sale, given the public disclosure that the league was investigating Sarver’s conduct. Scooping up 1/30th of the NBA, particularly before the league negotiates its next media rights contract (its current deals with ESPN and TNT expire after the 2024-25 season), is a rare investment. As of press time, definitive bidders for the Suns have yet to come forward, though former Disney chief executive Bob Iger has been rumoured to have an interest. A spokeswoman for him declined to comment.
The Suns were most recently valued at $1.8bn by Forbes, slightly higher than the 2020 sale of the Utah Jazz for just over $1.6bn. It remains unclear if both the Suns and the Mercury — the WNBA home of Brittney Griner — would sell as a package or as individual entities.
For interested parties, the teams are an asset worth evaluating. For Sarver and Silver, their sale will still somehow yield benefits despite misdeeds and missteps.