The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury organizations have finally been put up for sale by disgraced owner Robert Sarver. The NBA’s investigation into Sarver’s behavior at the workplace yielded some pretty damning stories which had been first reported on by ESPN during the 2021-22 season. The NBA decided to punish Sarver by fining him $10 million and suspending him for a year but pressure from sponsors has made Sarver sell the Suns after years of fans wishing for this to happen.
Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN has reported on possible buyers for the Western Conference team that is in a warm weather state and in a sizeable market.
“Robert Sarver will sell the team. Here’s the important part, he gets to decide who buys the team. There’s going to be a lot of interest in this team at a $3 billion or $4 billion valuation. He gets to decide who he sells to, just like how Donald Sterling decided to sell to Steve Ballmer. Some of the names that you might hear are Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon, Robert Iger former CEO of Disney, Lorraine Jobs who is a minority owner of the Washington Wizards as well, and Larry Ellison. These are big names and you will hear a lot of people linked to the Suns in the coming days and months… Robert Sarver controls this process.”
Can A New Owner Finally Solve The Suns’ Problems?
Under Robert Sarver, the Phoenix Suns have had an incredibly tough time being a winning team. While he has had good teams before, they have never been able to break the championship barrier.
The last 2 seasons are arguably 2 of the most successful seasons in Suns’ history with an NBA Finals appearance in 2021 and a franchise-best regular season record in 2022. Either way, they don’t have a title to show for it.
With the strength of the current roster, a new owner who can instill belief in people around the league that the Suns are going to be a competitive team will be greatly appreciated by the Arizona loyalists that have supported this team through all the issues from the Sarver era.
