When disgraced billionaire Robert Sarver sold his majority stake in the Suns and Mercury in 2023, there was a hope that his organizations — caught in a web of allegations of racial and gendered discrimination as well as sexual harassment — would turn a new leaf.
New owner Mat Ishbia has been in charge for a little over two years. Recent accusations against his teams suggest that might not be the case.
Multiple former Suns employees have launched lawsuits against the franchise, citing discrimination, harassment and retaliatory acts.
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Here’s what you need to know.
Suns lawsuits, explained
Under Ishbia’s leadership, the Suns and Mercury have been subjected to a number of legal challenges, the most recent of which came on May 13. Gene Traylor, the team’s former director of safety, security and risk management, accused the franchise of ignoring “urgent” security concerns that came to light after a series of notable incidents, one of which saw a right-wing influencer harass Brittney Griner at Dallas/Fort Worth airport.
Traylor, tasked with identifying “safety, financial and reputational risks” for the Suns, per ESPN, submitted a presentation laying out changes that needed to be made. The Phoenix Police Department’s Homeland Defense conducted a series of field tests in which officers attempted to smuggle weapons — including guns — into PHX Arena. On multiple occasions, they were permitted entry, the complaint says.
Traylor, who is Black, alleges that his superiors tried to retaliate against him for his presentation. He was demoted from his position a year later, with his lawsuit stating his downgrade “was not performance-based but rather a direct result of his identity as an educated, accomplished Black professional who is respected in his field”, per Front Office Sports.
Traylor also alleges in the lawsuit that Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein was having an affair with Mercury player Sophie Cunningham at the time of his dismissal. The team denied that claim in a statement on Tuesday.
Traylor isn’t the only Suns employee, past or present, to levy allegations of discrimination towards the Ishbia-led side. In April, a Hispanic woman, identified in her complaint as Jane Doe, launched a lawsuit against Phoenix accusing the organization of retaliation and fostering a hostile work environment.
One month earlier, a 46-year-old video engineer claimed his superiors forced him to change his employment status to contractor — thereby forgoing his rights to healthcare, retirement benefits and employee protections. He also accused the organization of subjecting him to “unsanitary and degrading work conditions”, according to his complaint.
The first lawsuit against the sides, filed in November, saw the Suns’ former head of diversity, equity and inclusion assert that the franchise’s workplace environment didn’t improve after Sarver sold the team to Ishbia.
Who is the Suns owner?
Ishbia, a billionaire mortgage lender and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, purchased majority stake in the Suns and Mercury in 2023, five months after Sarver was suspended for a year and fined $10 million after an investigation revealed he “engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards”, including regularly making racially-insensitive and “sex-related” comments and directing “inequitable conduct toward female employees.”
