NBA star Draymond Green has called for a players vote to determine whether Robert Sarver should be removed as Phoenix Suns majority owner as he labeled his punishment ‘bulls***’.

The 31-year-old power forward has praised the league’s commissioner Adam Silver for ‘the stand that they have taken over the years,’ referring to former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban from the NBA after private recordings of him making racist comments were made public in April 2014.

However, the four-time NBA champion doesn’t agree with Sarver’s $10million fine and one-year ban from the league, as he said the league’s investigation ‘kind of fell short of what it should be.’ 

‘To think that someone like Robert Sarver, that’s acting in that manner, can continue to represent us…that’s bulls***,’ Green said on Tuesday’s edition of his podcast – The Draymond Green Show. ‘You can’t continue to represent way more people than yourself with those views.’

The NBA rules state that in order for an owner to be removed, it needs three-quarters of its board of governors to agree to start the process. Last week, Silver made it clear that he cannot act alone on ‘the right to take away his team,’ referring to Sarver, in a press conference.

‘I’m asking that there be a vote,’ Green said on his podcast, affirming his stance on the matter. 

‘It’s a little baffling to me that we’ll walk into the arena next year. The Phoenix Suns will walk into the arena next year, he’ll sit on the sideline and we’ll just continue on playing. 

‘So the one thing that I am going to need is someone to explain to me why is it that it was OK to get rid of Sterling, but it’s not possible to force Robert Sarver to sell after what we read?,’ he added. 

The 2017 NBA defensive player of the year then insisted that if players voting on whether to remove Sarver, who is also the owner of Phoenix’s WNBA team – the Phoenix Mercury – is ‘the only way, then let’s see what those numbers are.’

‘Lets see what they are,’ Green doubled-down once more.

It was only in November when findings in a ESPN report alleged Sarver and members of the Suns front office of racist, misogynistic and sexually suggestive comments to franchise employees. 

In addition to saying the N-word ‘at least five times,’ Sarver is also accused of using language and engaging in conduct demeaning to female employees, including the time he asked a pregnant worker if she would be unable to perform her duties after becoming a mother. The unidentified woman was told by a team executive to start looking for a new job, and was ultimately demoted.

The NBA also had specific concerns about the Suns’ Human Resources department, which was criticized for its ‘ineffectiveness and failure to garner the respect and confidence of Suns employees,’ according to the league report, obtained by DailyMail.com.

The Suns’ HR department allegedly ‘broke employee confidences’ and had deficient record-keeping practices, which impeded the handling of complaints, according to the report.

There were also accusations of unwanted touching, not against Sarver, but against team employees who were working under the real estate developer.

Two incidents involved male employees rubbing the backs of female co-workers, one of whom allegedly had her hair sniffed during the incident. Furthermore, a female employee allegedly touched male and female co-workers on their thighs, and one male team sponsor was accused of grabbing the buttocks of a team employee during a business trip.

Last week, Sarver issued an apology, though he noted he did not agree with all of the report’s findings. He cooperated with the league’s investigation. 

In both separate but similar incidents, a vote was never held among the NBA’s Board of Governors to terminate Sarver and Sterling’s positions as majority owners of their respective NBA teams. 

The Clippers, though, were shortly sold to former Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer after Sterling wound up suing the NBA for $1billion in federal court following his lifetime ban being announced, saying his constitutional rights were violated. 

Like Green, who says players have been previously ‘thrown out of the league for a lot less,’ Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Suns guard Chris Paul made their opinions known on Sarver’s hefty fine and one-year ban, saying the NBA’s sanctions didn’t go far enough. 

‘To get suspended for one year and fined $10million, I mean, the only way you get suspended for one year and fined $10 million is if you are the owner of an asset and you can’t be fired,’ Green further said on his podcast.

‘Because I think anyone else in the NBA who — and especially from a front-office standpoint, like maybe not a player, although we’ve seen players get thrown out of the league for less — would 1,000 percent be fired if half of the things that came out of the investigation into Robert Sarver came out about anyone else,’ he added.

Silver was asked last week about how most employees of any company would likely face firings if they were to use racial slurs or partake in lewd actions or comments in the way that the investigation showed that Sarver did.

‘It’s hard to make those comparisons to somebody who commits an inappropriate act in the workplace in somewhat of an anonymous fashion versus what is a huge public issue now around this person,’ Silver said.

‘There’s no neat answer here, other than the rights that come with owning an NBA team, how that is set up within our Constitution. What it would take to remove that team from his control is a very involved process, and it’s different than holding a job. It just is. When you actually own a team, it’s just a very different proposition.’

Of those who spoke to ESPN, mostly on the condition of anonymity, nearly a dozen say they’ve sought professional help for issues such as anxiety and sleep loss due to the working conditions, which were exacerbated by Sarver’s frequent verbal abuse. One person said they contemplated suicide.

Sarver, 60, was also accused by former Suns coach Earl Watson of using the N-word to complain in 2016 that Golden State Warriors forward Green had used the term on the court.

‘You can’t say that,’ said Watson, who is Hispanic and black. ‘Why?’ Sarver asked. ‘Draymond Green says [N-word].’

‘You can’t f****ing say that,’ Watson repeated.

Sarver only admits to using the N-word once, years earlier.

‘On one occasion a player used the N-word to describe the importance of having each others’ back,’ the NBA team owner told ESPN through his attorneys. ‘I responded by saying, ”I wouldn’t say n****, I would say that we’re in the foxhole together.”

‘An assistant coach approached me a short time after and told me that I shouldn’t say the word, even if I were quoting someone else. I immediately apologized and haven’t said it ever again. The N-word has never been a part of my vocabulary.’

Sarver also disputed having that alleged conversation with Watson, who now works as a Toronto Raptors assistant coach after being fired from Phoenix in 2017.

‘Let me be crystal clear: I never once suggested on that night (or ever) that I should be able to say the N-word because a player or a black person uses it,’ Saver said through his attorneys.

However, on Tuesday, Green didn’t hold back against the Suns owner’s use of the racial slur. 

‘No. 1, if you use the N-word to re-describe something that someone said or [are] telling a story that someone has told you or [you are] using the word, because someone else did – stop it,’ Green said on hid podcast – The Draymond Green Show. 

‘That’s ridiculous. Because the level of comfort that you have to have to even use the word again does not validate or make it OK for Robert Sarver to use the N-word,’ he added. 

Furthermore, Green pondered how Sarver can stay on as the Suns’ owner as the franchise ‘is pretty much built on the backs of African Americans.’

‘When he returns next year, because it’s only a year, does everything just go back to normal?’ Green asked on his podcast. ‘Are those guys supposed to unsee everything that they just saw and heard? Are those guys supposed to feel comfortable with continuing to work with this guy?’

‘This guy gets to just come back in the fold as if he’s still representing us? And as if he’s a part of us? That can’t be so. Because for us, especially as African Americans, I’m uncomfortable, I’m very uncomfortable. And knowing that, in that position, you could just essentially do whatever you want, and because you own an asset, you can’t be punished?,’ Green further said. 

Sarver will be welcomed back in 2023, though Silver made clear that his words and actions going forward will be highly scrutinized. 

‘I don’t want to rest on that legal point because of course there could be a process to take away someone’s team in this league,’ the NBA’s commissioner since 2014 said. ‘It’s very involved, and I ultimately made the decision that it didn’t rise to that level. But to me, the consequences are severe here on Mr. Sarver.’