Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green said the NBA should vote to determine whether Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Robert Sarver is allowed to be reinstated following his one-year suspension.
“It’s a little baffling to me that we’ll walk into the arena next year, the Phoenix Suns will walk into the arena next year, (Sarver will) sit on the sideline, and we’ll just continue on playing,” Green said. on his podcast Tuesday.
“I’m asking that there be a vote,” he added. “If that’s the only way, then let’s see what those numbers are.”
The NBA suspended Sarver for one year and fined him $10 million on Sept. 13 for “workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies.”
Three-quarters of the NBA’s board of governors must vote to remove an owner, according to league rules.
Other players also publicly criticized the NBA’s decision not to hand out stronger punishment. Suns point guard Chris Paul said the league’s decision “fell short,” while Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said the NBA “definitely got this wrong.”
Shortly after the league announced Sarver’s suspension, commissioner Adam Silver said the law firm that investigated the Suns owner determined his use of slurs “was not motivated by racial animus.”
“I think if they had made findings that, in fact, his conduct was motivated by racial animus, absolutely that would have had an impact on the ultimate outcome here,” Silver said. “But that’s not what they found.”