Sport as a Business

There’s a big part of New York who will still argue for James Dolan’s claim as the NBA’s worst owner, but the Phoenix Suns’ Robert Sarver is quickly becoming the most unpopular billionaire in sport.

Sarver, a property tycoon who bought the team for $400 million in 2004 and on the latest valuations, has approximately quadrupled his investment, has lurched from crisis to crisis in the past few decades.

His latest controversial decision, yesterday’s announcement he was sacking Igor Kokoskov after just 1 season, leaving the team looking for its fifth head coach in five years, watched him widely vilified by the NBA universe.

Former player Matt Barnes led the criticism, calling Sarver to market the group and stop wasting the livelihood of young shooting guard Devin Bookers, that has turned into a star regardless of the wreck in Arizona.

A longtime NBA helper who had been Quin Snyder’s sounding board with the Utah Jazz, Kokoskov became the first European-born head coach in NBA history when Phoenix hired him to replace interim coach Jay Triano at 2018.

At this time it is worth remembering one of the greatest Warner stories to emerge in the previous 12 months when he abandoned live goats at the office of former GM McDonough to encourage him to obtain the Suns own GOAT.