If you’ve been following off-season NBA news lately, you probably already know that the Phoenix Suns may soon have a “For Sale” sign hanging on the team’s office door. Well, maybe no sign… but the team could certainly be on the market.
Our man Shaq has talked about possible team ownership in the past. He’s openly talked about his desire to become at least a partial owner of his very first NBA franchise, the Orlando Magic. Now – for a moment, at least – O’Neal apparently also considered throwing his extra-large sized hat into the ring for ownership of the Suns. (Which, BTW, is a team he also played with in his post-Lakers career.)
Alas, it seems the big man’s big plans for the team in the Valley of the Sun didn’t last long. On his most recent podcast, “The Big Podcast,” co-host Nischelle Turner asked about any possible interest in the Suns.
The answer was a very definite, no-holds-barred “yes and no.” Waffling? Not really. O’Neal HAD been interested, at least until he saw the initials of another person who might be interested in buying the team.
Here’s what Shaq had to say: “I was open [to the idea of purchasing the team] until I saw the initials JB. Let me tell you something, you don’t mess with James Brown, you don’t mess with Jeff Bezos.” Bezos, of course, is the founder and former owner of Amazon. He’s no longer in a daily management role at the company, but he remains one of the biggest shareholders of the company, and has a personal net worth estimated to be in the neighborhood of $200 million dollars. Pretty nice neighborhood!
O’Neal said it made no sense for him to try to compete with money that overwhelmingly large. (Probably what other NBA players felt like when they tried to score on the big man in his playing days…) “When the boys come on stage, get your ass and go. So, Jeff said he wants it and a couple of other heavy hitters said they want it. I’m not even gonna put my name in the bucket on this one. I’m not.”
Click here for the full podcast on YouTube.
How did this ownership ball get rolling? Just this week (as of this writing), Phoenix Suns (and Phoenix Mercury, of the WNBA) majority owner Robert Sarver officially announced plans to find new buyers for both franchises. The move came a week after he received a one-year suspension from the NBA and a $10 million fine for racist and sexist workplace conduct.
An independent investigation sponsored by the NBA front office indicated that Sarver, repeatedly used the N-word when retelling the statements of others, made many sex-related comments in the workplace, commented on the physical appearance of female employees, and engaged in demeaning and harsh treatment of employees.
As we’ve talked about in previous posts here on the ShaqFu Radio blog, O’Neal is still talking about his desire to be at least a partial owner of the Orlando Magic. The team is still owned by the DeVos family, which has owned it since the beginning. Shaq has made it clear that if the family ever decides to sell, they keep him at the top of their list.
Again, from the latest podcast: “Listen, we still run that franchise [Magic]. If they wanna sell it to us — DeVos family — we’re ready to go right now. This message goes out to the DeVos family — if you’re ready to sell Orlando Magic — sell it to somebody who’s gonna take it to the next level, that’s us.”
Is Jeff Bezos looking to buy the Suns? No telling at this moment. His company, Amazon, just this year started streaming the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games on the Amazon Prime service. He’s been seen at every TNF game so far…so perhaps Mr. Bezos developed a taste for sports-team ownership.
Time will tell who the new owner of the Suns will be. Stay tuned!