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Former President Barack Obama is reportedly part of a group interested in buying NBA team the Phoenix Suns.
Disgraced Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver announced his decision to sell the teams in September after several sponsors, including Verizon Wireless and PayPal, were intending to cut sponsorship deals with both franchises.
Sarver was handed a one-year ban and $10million fine by the NBA following a league investigation into allegations that he engaged in racism, sexism, and bullying.
The NBA revealed it found that Sarver used the N-word on at least five occasions among other transgressions, including the use of language and conduct demeaning to female employees, over his nearly two-decade tenure as owner of the Suns and WNBA’s Mercury.
With Sarver now looking to find a buyer after being pressured into selling, the 44th President of the United States is reportedly in a group that is interested in making the purchase.
‘The days of somebody being able to put in a little amount of money and run the team, those days are over… The one guy who might pull it off and I heard, I’m probably breaking some news here, but I heard Obama is involved in one of the groups,’ Bill Simmons said on his The Ringer podcast, via NBC Sports.
Former president Barack Obama is reportedly part of a group interested in buying NBA team the Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver has announced that he has started the process to sell both franchises after being handed a one-year ban and $10million fine
Devin Booker (1) and Cameron Payne (15) of the Phoenix Suns in action against the Warriors
Disgraced Sarver is now looking to find a buyer for the team after being pressured into selling
‘And that’s the one guy who I feel like would make him the actual face, and the money guys would be so happy to have him in the front.’
As Simmons said, Obama would not be the majority owner and he would have to team up with other rich partners but he would be a big name and possible face of the group if it were to make a bid.
On the podcast, NBA legend Charles Barkley had said he wasn’t too interested in buying the Suns because of the hefty price tag but he did admit he could be swayed if Obama called him.
NBA legend Charles Barkley had said he wasn’t too interested in buying the Suns because of the hefty price tag but he did admit he could be swayed if Obama called him
‘If Obama called me, hell yeah I’m buying in,’ Barkley said ‘I got so much love and admiration for that guy.’
Barkley is not the only one who seemed to be in support of Obama being part of a possible bid.
At Thursday’s media availability, Suns head coach Monty Williams was asked about his thoughts on the former president potentially being part of his team’s ownership group.
Suns head coach Monty Williams was asked about his thoughts on the former president potentially being part of his team’s ownership group
‘I don’t tend to make comments about speculation, but I think anybody would value a partnership with someone like that,’ Williams said.
‘For me, as an African-American, even though you may have differences of opinions on certain views politically, whatever that looks like, someone that’s been through those kinds of experiences from a leadership standpoint, I would love to just pick his brain and just sit and listen for hours about life and decisions and things like that.
‘So, I’ve heard that, also, but it’s hard to speculate on that, cause I’m so locked in on the season.’
The news comes as the Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Pelicans 124-111 Friday night, moving 3-1.
Obama is a big sports fan, pictured with the late Kobe Bryant (center) during an event with the 2008-2009 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers at the White House in 2010
Sarver bought the franchise for $401 million in 2004 – an NBA record at the time – and Forbes now values the Suns, who appeared in the 2021 NBA Finals, at $1.8billion. However, the Suns are expected to sell for an estimated $3billion.
Among rumors of other new team owners, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Laurene Powell Jobs, the wife of the late Steve Jobs, is also believed to be in the running. She currently has a 20 percent minority stake in the Washington Wizards.
Bob Iger, who has close ties with the NBA from his time at Disney (a league sponsor and organizer for the 2020 NBA bubble), is also considering buying the Arizona-based franchise.
Another NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal, also revealed would be willing to join a potential Jeff Bezos bid.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, also revealed would be willing to join a potential Jeff Bezos bid
Bezos has been a rumored buyer of the team after Sarver announced his intentions to sell
‘If he wants me on board, I would gladly like to talk to him,’ O’Neal told TMZ Sports.
‘But as far as trying to own a whole team by myself and go up against — let me tell you something, I’m scared of Big Man JB. Shaq O’Neal is scared of Big Man JB.’
The franchise’s valuation, reported by ESPN on Wednesday, would be the second-highest team ownership sale in sports history. At the moment, the Denver Broncos’ $4.65billion sale in June to the Walton-Penner family is the North American record, surpassing the $2.4billion benchmark set by Steve Cohen in 2020 when he bought the New York Mets.
Sarver initially bought the team in 2004 for $400million.
In total, the Suns have 30 sponsors on a one-year contract until the end of the new season. Put altogether, these sponsors generated $11million in revenue last season for the Arizona franchise.
The 44th president is pictured with the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver (left), in 2019
PayPal is the leading profit-making sponsor, as the online payment company made $3million in revenue for Phoenix last season, but its CEO Dan Schulman released a statement saying the company would not seek to renew its partnership with the Suns ‘should Robert Sarver remain involved with the Suns organization, after serving his suspension.’
The Suns office reportedly prepared for the worst outcome for Sarver, according to ESPN. Many, if not all, sponsors sought ‘additional attention and talking points’ with Phoenix after the NBA’s final report on the allegations made against the Suns owner was made public, as well as Silver’s punishment.
Other than PayPal, these sponsors included Rocket Mortgage, Kia, Opendoor, CarMax, Kroger, Beam Suntory, Arizona Public Service, Footprint and Verizon.
Suns minority owner Jahm Najafi was one of the leading voices in the front office who had publicly advised Sarver to resign as owner.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver privately advised Sarver to sell, ESPN reported, but did not think the Suns owner deserved as much of a heavy punishment as Sterling
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had also privately advised Sarver to sell despite being of the opinion that the league’s 10-month investigation into the Suns owner’s inappropriate conduct was ‘dramatically different’ from the one tied to former LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.
In 2014, Sterling was handed a lifetime ban from the NBA after telling his mistress, V. Stiviano, in a recording obtained by TMZ that she is ‘not to bring them to my games,’ referring to black people.
Sarver was not deserving of the same punishment, Silver concluded and the NBA commissioner offered the Suns owner a path back to the league in 365-days time. The Arizona businessman was not caught on tape and there was no indisputable evidence to find him guilty by default, unlike Sterling.
Sarver’s case has drawn comparison’s to that of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling (left), who was banned for life and fined $2.5m for racist comments against black people in 2014
However, several players, including Lebron James, of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Chris Paul, the Suns’ point guard, didn’t think Silver’s punishment was hard enough on Sarver.
Meanwhile, Golden State Warriors star Green called for NBA owners to vote to determine whether Sarver should be removed as Phoenix Suns majority owner as he labeled his punishment ‘bulls***’.
National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) executive director Tamika Tremaglio echoed a majority of NBA players’ sentiments on the situation, and said in an ESPN interview that they were ‘absolutely calling for’ a lifetime ban.
The NBA rules state that in order for an owner to be removed, it needs three-quarters of its board of governors to agree to start the process. In September, commissioner Silver made it clear that he cannot act alone on ‘the right to take away his team,’ referring to Sarver, in a press conference.
The NBA had the option of giving Sarver a longer ban than the one-year suspension. The $10m fine was the maximum allowable, as was the case with Sterling’s $2.5m fine eight years ago; NBA rules on maximum fines were changed in 2019.
Lakers star LeBron James insisted there is no place for ‘that kind of behavior’ in the league
Paul hit out at the sanctions, believing that Sarver should have faced a harsher punishment
But Silver revealed that Sarver was likely spared even stronger sanctioning by the NBA for his racist, misogynistic and hostile words and actions because of one key conclusion by investigators.
Lawyers put in charge of Sarver’s case by the league determined the NBA owner’s use of slurs ‘was not motivated by racial animus.’
Had that not been the case, Silver indicated, Sarver’s punishment – a one-year suspension and $10m fine – would have been far more severe.
