SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, speaking publicly on the Robert Sarver matter for the first time on Sunday, said he had private conversations with commissioner Adam Silver regarding the punishment handed down by the league to the embattled Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner. "(I) got (Silver's) point of view of what decisions and, I guess, mechanisms he had to intervene and bring down a punishment that was worthy of the actions that we were all responding to and representing the league as a whole and protecting the integrity of the league and the standard that we set terms of from execs, ownership, all the way down to players," Curry said while addressing the situation during the Warriors' media day. «There should be a standard around what's tolerable and what's not.» The NBA announced on Sept.
13 that Sarver would be suspended for one year and fined $10 million after an independent investigation found that he used the N-word at least five times «when recounting the statements of others» and was also involved in «instances of inequitable conduct toward female employees,» including «sex-related comments» and inappropriate comments on employees' appearances.
The NBA commissioned the investigation in the wake of an ESPN story in November 2021 detailing allegations of racism and misogyny during Sarver's 17 years as owner.
The NBA's announcement was met with backlash, as LeBron James, Chris Paul, Draymond Green and others spoke out and said the punishment wasn't severe enough.