The Phoenix Suns will pay employees for canceled events and missed games during the NBA’s suspension in game play due to the coronavirus pandemic, Suns owner Robert Sarver told Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro. The impact of the season’s suspension trickles down to team employees who were at risk of lost wages for the events that have been rescheduled or canceled.
Tag: Robert Sarver
Larry Fitzgerald purchasing stake with the Suns
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has purchased a minority stake in the Phoenix Suns, becoming the second active NFL player with an NBA ownership share, league sources told ESPN. The limited partnership has been in the works for months, if not longer, and it allows Fitzgerald to join Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who purchased a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018, as the only active NFL players who are partial owners of NBA teams.
Fitzgerald, who ranks second all time …
Fitzgerald, who ranks second all time in NFL receiving yards, has built a strong relationship with Suns managing partner Robert Sarver. Fitzgerald, 36, had already taken on a significant ambassador’s role with the Suns. Even so, his presence has been more than ceremonial. While Fitzgerald has done everything from sit in on potential front-office candidate interviews to canvass for a Suns public arena vote, he won’t take a more active role with the Suns until his pro football playing career is over, sources told ESPN. He has been a season ticket holder with the team since 2005.
What preconceived notions did you have …
What preconceived notions did you have about Robert Sarver and what has it been like getting to know him? Jones: Like it or not, right or wrong, Robert’s direct and that’s the way I was raised. That’s the way I operate. And so I didn’t have any preconceived notions because I knew exactly who he was and exactly what he was about. So when he asked me to entertain coming and working for Phoenix, it wasn’t Robert or fear of Robert or fear of the situation as much as it was the timing and location right for my family. Because I knew what I was getting in. He’s passionate. He’s direct. And more importantly when you get to know him, he’s a really good guy. He wants to succeed. Sometimes so much so he believes he wants it more than you do.
Williams: For me, it was like, he …
Williams: For me, it was like, he didn’t lie. When we had direct conversations about our past, not one time did he buckle. He told me straight up like whatever it was, and I did the same. And I felt this somewhat of a kinship. As an African American, I know that I’m not going to be afforded a ton of opportunities to be a head coach. And for me it was like, I can’t mess this up. And I felt he felt the same way and we basically expressed that to each other. … He wasn’t trying to be rude. He just told me like straight up, we both have regrets about some things we have done in our past. For me, I can vibe with a cat like that.
Robert Sarver, owner of the NBA team …
Robert Sarver, owner of the NBA team Phoenix Suns and the Spanish football team Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, has just sold his five-acre private estate in Paradise Valley, Arizona, for $19.25 million, the highest residential sale ever recorded in the state.
The headlines that the story sparked …
The headlines that the story sparked were the kind of thing that might drive any self-respecting coach away. The most damning among them? Sarver, as sources confirmed to The Athletic, once filled former GM Ryan McDonough’s office with live goats as a way of telling him that the Suns needed to find a GOAT — a Greatest Of All Time-type talent — of their own. In the end, with Sarver’s message meant to comedically dovetail with an event that celebrated Phoenix Mercury star/WNBA legend Diana Taurasi on that same day, the goats defecated in McDonough’s office and the tale became instant NBA lore (to be fair, sources also say the amount of fecal matter was exaggerated, and that it was akin to a cat doing its business inside a litter box. But we digress …)
“I want so badly, selfishly, to coach …
“I want so badly, selfishly, to coach and lead a team to a certain level, but I do really want badly to see Mr. Sarver looked at differently,” Williams said. “I think we pick and choose sometimes who we’re going to get after. And he’d be the first to admit, he’s done some things. ..but I know the things he’s done for people here behind the scenes that don’t get reported. I know the people who he has bailed out financially, who he’s helped in their struggle with other issues. That doesn’t get reported. Only the other decisions that he’s made (get reported).