NBA commissioner Adam Silver says 'I don't have the right to take away' Phoenix Suns from owner Robert Sarver

NEW YORK — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that he doesn't «know how to measure» the punishment Phoenix Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver received for making racist and misogynist remarks compared to what would happen to a team or league employee, saying that he «doesn't have the right» to take away Sarver's team.

«There are particular rights here of someone who owns an NBA team as opposed to somebody who is an employee,» Silver said during a news conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel Wednesday afternoon at the conclusion of the league's fall meeting of its Board of Governors.

It also came a day after the league announced Sarver would receive a $10 million fine and a one-year suspension in the wake of an ESPN story in November 2021 detailing allegations of racism and misogyny during Sarver's 17 years as owner.

«The equivalent of a $10 million fine and a one-year suspension, I don't know how to measure that against a job,» Silver said, «but I have certain authority by virtue of this organization, and that's what I exercised. I don't have the right to take away his team. I don't want to rest on that legal point because of course there could be a process to take away someone's team in this league. It's very involved, and I ultimately made the decision that it didn't rise to that level.

»But to me, the consequences are severe here on Mr. Sarver. Reputationally, it's hard to even make those comparisons to somebody who commits an inappropriate act in the workplace in somewhat of an anonymous fashion versus what is a huge public issue now around this person. There's no neat answer here, other than owning property. The rights that come with owning an NBA team — how that's set up within our constitution, what it