Suns’ Sam Garvin appointed interim governor after Sarver suspension

Sources tell Holmes and Zach Lowe of ESPN (via Twitter) that commissioner Adam Silver approved Garvin, who is the team’s alternate governor, to be interim governor on Wednesday evening. The move is effective immediately.

After Holmes published a story for ESPN last year detailing workplace misconduct allegations made against Sarver, including racist and misogynistic comments, among other things, Garvin was among the members of Phoenix’s ownership group that signed a statement defending Sarver, Lowe tweets.

The law firm that conducted the investigation following Holmes’ report corroborated many of the allegations. The firm found that Sarver had used racially insensitive language in the workplace, including using the N-word when recounting other people’s statements on at least five occasions.

The investigation also confirmed that the Suns’ owner engaged in inequitable treatment of female employees, made “many” sex-related comments in the workplace – including inappropriate comments about female employees’ physical appearances – and treated team employees in a “demeaning and harsh” manner.

However, the NBA stated that investigators “made no finding that Sarver’s workplace misconduct was motivated by racial or gender-based animus.” Obviously, that seems to run contrary to the confirmation of many details from the report, which has led to many around the league being critical of Sarver’s punishment, saying the sanctions fell short.