Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Robert Sarver said on Wednesday that he plans on selling the NBA and WNBA teams as a result of the “current unforgiving climate.”
The bombshell announcement comes after the NBA fined and suspended Sarver following an independent investigation found that he used the “N-word” at least five times during his tenure with the teams and made repeated “sex-related” comments to female employees.
“Words that I deeply regret now overshadow nearly two decades of building organizations that brought people together – and strengthened the Phoenix area – through the unifying power of professional men’s and women’s basketball,” Sarver said in a statement on Wednesday.
He added, “As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness. I expected that the commissioner’s one-year suspension would provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I and so many fans love.”
“But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that that is no longer possible – that whatever good I have done, or could still do, is outweighed by things I have said in the past. For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury,” Sarver said.
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