PayPal said Friday that the company will no longer sponsor the Phoenix Suns if owner Robert Sarver remains part of the franchise when his suspension ends.
And the National Basketball Players Association later made its stance clear, with executive director Tamika Tremaglio telling ESPN that NBA players want Sarver banned for life.
PayPal said its current partnership deal with the Suns ends after the coming 2022-23 season, meaning it will expire during Sarver was suspended this week, plus fined $10 million, after an investigation during his 18 years as owner of the Suns.
In a statement, PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman pointed to his company鈥檚 鈥渟trong record of combatting racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination鈥� and said Sarver鈥檚 conduct is 鈥渦nacceptable and in conflict with our values.鈥�
鈥淚n light of the findings of the NBA鈥檚 investigation, we will not renew our sponsorship should Robert Sarver remain involved with the Suns organization, after serving his suspension,鈥� Schulman said.
Schulman said PayPal will remain supportive of the team, its players 鈥渁nd the experienced and diverse talent now leading the organization,鈥� including coach Monty Williams, general manager James Jones, assistant general manager Morgan Cato and senior vice president of people and culture Kim Corbitt.
Williams, Jones, Cato and Corbitt are Black. The investigation into Sarver showed he 鈥渞epeated or purported to repeat the N-word on at least five occasions spanning his tenure with the Suns,鈥� though it noted that the independent lawyers hired by the NBA to conduct the probe made 鈥渘o finding that Sarver used this racially insensitive language with the intent to demean or denigrate.鈥�
PayPal鈥檚 statement came one day after called for Sarver to resign, saying there should be 鈥渮ero tolerance鈥� for lewd, misogynistic and racist conduct in any workplace. Some players, including Suns guard Chris Paul 鈥� a past president of the National Basketball Players Association 鈥� and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, also have said the NBA's sanctions of Sarver did not go far enough.
Those statements from Paul and James came Wednesday, hours after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver detailed some of his reasons for deciding a suspension and fine were the proper sanctions. On Friday, Tremaglio told ESPN the union 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� wants Sarver ousted from the league.
鈥淲hile we understand that there has been a thorough investigation and we鈥檙e very pleased that the NBA was able to follow through on that because that鈥檚 clearly something that we want to see happen, we also want to make it very clear that we do not want him back in a position where he will be impacting our players and those who serve our players on a daily basis,鈥� Tremaglio said in a televised interview.
PayPal is based in San Jose, California. The technology platform and digital payments company also has been a partner for the WNBA鈥檚 Phoenix Mercury and a Spanish soccer team, both owned by Sarver.
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press