MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 11: Chris Paul #3 of the Phoenix Suns reacts against the Milwaukee Bucks during the second half in Game Three of the NBA Finals at Fiserv Forum on July 11, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns star Chris Paul condemned team owner Robert Sarver’s actions and the league’s corresponding discipline.
The NBA suspended Sarver for one year and fined him $10 million following findings that he made racist and misogynistic comments. According to the 43-page report, he reportedly used the N-word at least five times. He also made “crude or sex-related comments,” including “demeaning conduct” toward female employees.
On Wednesday night, Paul expressed his disapproval over Sarver’s behavior detailed in the investigation’s report.
“Like many others, I reviewed the report I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated.”
He also believes the NBA should have taken a harsher stance against the Suns owner.
“I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.”
This is unfortunately a familiar situation for Paul, who played for the Los Angeles Clippers when recordings came out of Donald Sterling making racist comments. Paul said he discussed sitting out the 2014-15 season if Sterling remained the team’s owner.
Sterling received a lifetime ban from the NBA, which approved the sale of the team to Steve Ballmer in August 2014. In contrast, Sarver’s punishment feels lenient.
Via the Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that Sarver’s “beyond the pale” behavior was “dramatically different” than Sterling’s “blatant racist conduct.”
Despite the league’s findings, the report concluded that Sarver wasn’t “motivated by racial or gender-based animus.”
Yet a strong rebuke from one of the Suns’ premier players, and the former president of the National Basketball Players Association, could put more pressure on the league to send a stronger message.
Paul also wasn’t the only NBA superstar to speak up on Twitter. LeBron James said the league “definitely got this wrong.”
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