sport news 'Disgusted' Suns coach Monty Williams was SHOCKED to learn about racism claims ... trends now

Phoenix Suns players and coaches expressed disbelief at Monday's media day over the NBA investigation findings that led to owner Robert Sarver's one-year suspension and $10 million fine, with head coach Monty Williams admitting that he was 'disgusted' over the claims. 

Sarver announced his plan to sell the club and the WNBA's Mercury last week after the NBA probe found he had used the N-word around employees, bullied workers, and committed several other misogynistic acts. In one instance, Sarver is accused of asking a pregnant employee if she would be able to perform her duties after giving birth.

'I was in disbelief,' Williams said Monday. 'When you see the bullet points and then when you go through it, you start to think about how these things impact the people.'

'I would say just a state of shock,' general manager James Jones said. 'You don't want that around the organization. You don't want that to be the issue.'

Veteran Suns guard Chris Paul said he was concerned about what Suns employees have been dealing with.

'It was tough, just like anybody, reading all the different things,' said Paul, admitting that he had been in touch with NBA commissioner Adam Silver over the allegations. 'It was more so also the things that people have to endure in the workplace.'

Devin Booker, the Suns' longest-tenured player, said the accusations against Sarver came as a shock, particularly because he had a positive relationship with the outgoing team owner.

'That's tough for me because that's not the Robert Sarver that I know, it's not the Robert that welcomed me to Phoenix with open arms,' said Booker. 'But at the same time, I'm not insensitive to everybody that's involved in the situation. I understand everybody's personal experience with other people are always going to be different.'

No fewer than six people informed NBA investigators that they heard Sarver use the N-word while quoting, or purporting to quote, others.

But as Williams stressed Monday, the context of his use of the N-word is irrelevant.

'That word, I don't like it, never have,' Williams said. 'Especially when I was younger and I learned what that word meant. I learned how demeaning it was toward humanity, not just black folks.

'And when I saw the report, I was not happy about it, quite frankly, disgusted. It's not a word you repeat anytime. And when you read the report, you read the bullet points and you see it over and over again in that way, it bothers you.'

Suns vice chairman Jahm Najafi and jersey sponsor PayPal have both urged Sarver to sell the team after the allegations surfaced. PayPal threatened to end its sponsorship agreement with the team if he refused.

Sarver's case bears some resemblance to that of Donald Sterling, the former Los Angeles Clippers owner, who was banned for life and fined $2.5 million for racist comments in 2014.

The NBA had the option of giving Sarver a longer ban than the one-year suspension. The $10 million fine was the maximum allowable, as was the case with Sterling's $2.5 million fine eight years ago.

However, the league did not have discussions about removing Sarver as owner during the Board of Governors meetings.

One difference between the Sterling and Sarver cases is this: Sarver cooperated with the league's investigation and Sterling, in many ways, did not. Sterling wound up suing the NBA for $1 billion in federal court after his lifetime ban was announced, saying his constitutional rights were violated.

The report said Sarver 'repeated or purported to repeat the N-word on at least five occasions spanning his tenure with the Suns.'

'However, the investigation does not find that Sarver's conduct in any of these instances was motivated by racial animus,' the report read, adding that investigators made 'no finding that Sarver used this racially insensitive language with the intent to demean or denigrate.'

The Sterling investigation - from when the audio tapes of him making racist remarks to a girlfriend were released, to Silver's announcement of the lifetime ban - took three days. The Sarver probe took 100 times longer, involved more than 320 interviews and the review of more than 80,000 documents and other materials.

Both investigations were handled by the same New York-based firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Attorney David Anders led both probes.

Sarver's punishment is also similar to others levied in past high-profile examples of wrongdoing, either words, actions or both.

In 1993, then-Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was fined $25,000 and suspended one year for making 'racially and ethnically offensive remarks.' And last year, the NFL fined the Washington Commanders $10 million, plus investigative fees, after a probe found the team's workplace environment for women was, in the words of Commissioner Roger Goodell, 'highly unprofessional' - but stopped short of suspending owner Daniel Snyder.

It was ESPN's reporting in October that initially led to the league investigation.

The league had specific concerns about the Suns' Human Resources department, which was criticized for its 'ineffectiveness and failure to garner the respect and confidence of Suns employees,' according to the league report, obtained by DailyMail.com.

The Suns' HR department allegedly 'broke employee confidences' and had deficient record-keeping practices, which impeded the handling of complaints, according to the report.

There were also accusations of unwanted touching, not against Sarver, but against team employees who were working under the real estate developer.

Two incidents involved male employees rubbing the backs of female co-workers, one of whom allegedly had her hair sniffed during the incident. Furthermore, a female employee allegedly touched male and female co-workers on their thighs, and one male team sponsor was accused of grabbing the buttocks of a team employee during a business trip.

In addition to saying the N-word, Sarver is also accused of using language and engaging in conduct demeaning to female employees, according to the NBA statement (pictured)

Following the latter incident, the female team employee reported the allegations to team executives, but no action was taken against the sponsor, who continued to work around the woman at team events.

Sarver made misogynistic comments to female subordinates — once asking 'do I own you?' — and frequently used the N-word, according to a bombshell report released last year that detailed allegations of racism and sexism from more than 70 current and former employees.

'The level of misogyny and racism is beyond the pale,' one Suns co-owner told ESPN about Sarver in the October piece. 'It's embarrassing as an owner.'

'If the commissioner comes in and investigates to see what the f*** is going on in Phoenix,' a current employee told ESPN, '[he] would be appalled.'

'There's literally nothing you could tell me about him from a misogynistic or race standpoint that would surprise me,' said a former Suns executive.

Of those who spoke to ESPN, mostly on the condition of anonymity, nearly a dozen say they've sought professional help for issues such as anxiety and sleep loss due to the working conditions, which were exacerbated by Sarver's frequent verbal abuse. One person said they contemplated suicide.

The ESPN report had been anticipated since October 22, 2021, when podcaster Jordan Schultz teased its publication on Twitter. Sarver has denied or disputed nearly all of the claims, both before the article's publication, and in the article itself.

Sarver, 60, was accused by former Suns coach Earl Watson of using the N-word to complain in 2016 that Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green had used the term on the court.

'You can't say that,' said Watson, who is Hispanic and black.

'Why?' Sarver asked. 'Draymond Green says [N-word].'

'You can't f****ing say that,' Watson repeated.

Sarver only admits to using the N-word once, years earlier.

'On one occasion a player used the N-word to describe the importance of having each others' back,' the NBA team owner told ESPN through his attorneys. 'I responded by saying, ''I wouldn't say n***a, I would say that we're in the foxhole together.''

'An assistant coach approached me a short time after and told me that I shouldn't say the word, even if I were quoting someone else. I immediately apologized and haven't said it ever again. The N-word has never been a part of my vocabulary.'