Byron Nelson
Robert Sarver is about to sell the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, and there’s no question that the NBA & WNBA is not sad to see him go. Just a few weeks ago, he was exposed to sexism and racism in the workplace, including using the word N on more than one occasion. That’s an awful look on the Suns, Mercury, WNBA, and the NBA, which is why Sarver is doing the right thing by selling his stake.
A lot of Sarver’s racism has been hidden behind the scenes. That said, some of his racism was passed on to the victims. One of those people is Matt Barnes, who mentioned Sarver in an interview with VladTV.
During the interview, Barnes revealed that he had seen Sarver’s hand before and had been calling him a racist for over a decade; from what he heard through Earl Watson, Sarver said some racist things.
“I had a situation with them too; I want to say like in 2011 or 12 after I left there. I was in a game, and I was talking to this little 13-year-old kid in his dad’s courtside, and you know me…,” said Barnes.
“It was like fun back and forth, kind of like trash talking but nothing bad about it, and someone was shooting a free throw, and I heard someone behind me say don’t talk to my f***ing fans. I’m like, who’s he talking to? I turn around, it’s Sarver, and I’m like, mother*****, I’ll slap the s*** at you in front of your wife.”
Barnes added, “I don’t know if he was trying to be funny, but when I looked at him, it was like a deer in the headlights. I said I’ll slap the s*** out of you in front of your wife, and his wife was sitting right next to him, and he told on me, and I got fined like 25 or 35,000 for that.”
The Phoenix Suns play the Los Angeles Lakers in their first preseason game on Oct 5th.
