Lakers News: LeBron James Responds To Robert Sarver's Impending Suns, Mercury Sale
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Phoenix Suns and Mercury majority owner Robert Sarver has decided to sell both his teams following pressure from some key players, legions of fans, most media members, and basically everyone with a conscience, following a yearlong investigation into decades' worth of workplace misconduct. And the best player on your Los Angeles Lakers, All-NBA forward LeBron James, could have been a big reason why.
After the NBA fined Sarver to the tune of $10 million and a one-year suspension, All-Star Suns point guard Chris Paul, his longtime friend James, and New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, current NBPA president, spoke out against what they viewed as ultimately a slap on the wrist for Sarver's misbehavior. NBPA director Tamika Tremaglio also weighed in, telling Malika Andrews of ESPN that she hoped embattled owner would sell.
James penned a thoughtful breakdown of ESPN scribe Baxter Holmes's epic exposé that initially uncovered Sarver's cruel and offensive conduct as the main man in Phoenix.
Bill Simmons of The Ringer recently revealed that, behind the scenes, league commissioner Adam Silver and Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan were pressuring Sarver to sell the club, in part as a response to the outpouring of backlash that followed the NBA's relatively light punishment.
Obviously, $10 million is nothing to sneeze at, but given that Sarver is estimated to be worth as much as $800 million (a figure he could more than double with cash earned from this impending sale), it's more or less a parking ticket.
There's no question that Paul, a 12-time All-Star and first-ballot Hall of Famer, and James, an 18-time All-Star in the conversation for league GOAT (this writer would rank him fourth, behind Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bill Russell, but he's climbing fast), carry outsize influence in the NBA. Given that Paul is the second-best player on Sarver's own team, and that Paul had considered boycotting former Clippers owner Donald Sterling scandal while playing for his team in 2014, it was possible that things could have snowballed had Sarver remained unwilling to move on.
It was a big deal that James, Paul, and McCollum spoke out, and it almost certainly had an impact in helping to sway public opinion and, ultimately, pressuring Sarver.
With a sale now imminent, James took to Twitter once again, registering his excitement about the move:
Granted, the "official" league stance is that Sarver opted to sell of his own accord. But given the intel from Simmons and the swift timing of the decision so soon after he was penalized by the NBA, it seems legitimate that the Suns and Mercury owner is kowtowing to pressure from New York in this case.
