Robert Sarver is worried about his legacy

Sarver’s legacy is in tatters

All of this was/is weighing on Sarver’s mind, whether it be at the front or in the back, and he saw McDonough’s inability to quickly swing a trade for a star player as a means of jerking control away from him, and demanding a re-shift of the direction of the franchise in an attempt to make Booker’s prognostication come true.

Let’s face it, he knows something else that we all do as well: if on any level Sarver wants to remembered in Phoenix Suns history on the level of Jerry Colangelo, he can’t just make the playoffs a bunch of times never getting over the top.

Heck, at this point, he can’t just win the franchise’s first title and still be considered in the same breath as his predecessor.

The legacy of Colangelo is so profound, fans can’t even recall one negative move he ever made without naming ten that to this day still bring up thoughts of warmth and positivity, memories they cherish like children.

After all, Jerry is the Godfather of Phoenix sports. He may never have won a title with the Suns, but the amount of good that he did for sports in the Valley eclipses the fact that his only major professional championship came in the form of the second big-four franchise he owned, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The foundation that Colangelo laid is so vast and plentiful, one title by an owner who to this point in his tenure is so poorly remembered, would be nothing but a nice chapter in a book, but one that would be short compared to the accumulation of all other stages in his legacy.

At this point, for Sarver to be remembered as fondly as Colangelo, he would have to turn the Phoenix Suns into a Golden State Warriors-like legacy team, a result that is near impossible given the nature of parity in professional sports today.

With that noted, he is aware that at some point he will sell the franchise – be it in one year or 20 – and to this point, he is aware that he would not be remembered for a single success, but for the countless number of failures that have occurred on his watch.

He at least doesn’t want to be remembered as an owner that could never win, but one that struggled to win for a time before finally building the competitive team that fans of all generations long to call their own.

The timing of the firing of Ryan McDonough seemed strange. If Sarver was going to do it, it only seems logical that he make the move following the end of last season – rather than nine days before the start of the next.

But there is no doubt that one of the guiding thoughts that led to this move was that of his legacy and how on edge it currently rests, knowing that unless he starts winning, at any point in the future Booker could become anxious and look for his career to succeed in another city.

Ryan McDonough might have deserved to be fired, but it likely was the legacy of Robert Sarver that spurred the event’s occurrence.