Nba, Barack Obama wants the Phoenix Suns? The Barkley Hypothesis

As they say in these cases; it is a suggestion. But what a suggestion. Barack Obama would be involved in a consortium to take over the Phoenix Suns. During the podcast he leads, former sports journalist and founder of “The Ringer” site Bill Simmons was talking about NBA franchise ownership with Charles Barkley and threw it there: “I heard Obama would be with a group of investors aiming to Phoenix “. Barkley, star of the Suns from 1992 to 1996, immediately took the opportunity to self-nominate: “If he calls me Obama and asks me if I’m here, I’d say.” Damn, yes! “. I admire that boy very much. ”

Love for basketball

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That boy is 61 years old, was elected president of the United States in November 2008 and was in the White House until 2016. He has always declared a great love for basketball. “I’m well paid, but I don’t have $ 4 billion,” Barkley told Simmons, a not always reliable commentator. This is in fact the figure we are talking about to take the franchise from Robert Sarver, the majority shareholder for 18 years. Banker and real estate developer, Sarver also owns the Phoenix Mercury, the women’s team where Brittney Griner played, who has been jailed in Moscow since February for possession and drug dealing, and the Spanish football club of Mallorca. In September Sarver resigned from the Suns after an NBA investigation that fined him $ 10 million and suspended him for “racist slurs, sexist attitudes and discriminatory treatment of employees.” Among those interested in the Suns, there would also be Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the ex-wife MacKenzie Scott who from the divorce obtained 4% of the company, about 38.3 billion dollars, and Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, already committed in the America’s Cup of sailing, which in the past tried in vain to take the Golden State Warriors.

Bulls and Belinelli

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Obama has always declared himself a fan of the Bulls. In the 1990s, when he was a lawyer in Chicago, he followed the epic and the 6 titles of Michael Jordan’s team. The Bulls beat Phoenix and Barkley in the 1993 title finals. In an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2007, running for nomination for the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States, he said that as a child he had hung the poster in his bedroom. by Julius Erving, NBA champion in 1983 with Philadelphia. And speaking of on-court shows, he revealed that he had managed to dunk three times when he was 16. Not bad for a 187cm man. In high school he played in the number 23 jersey (later Jordan and LeBron James) at Punahou High School in Hawaii. They called him Barry O’Bomber. In 2010 for his 49th birthday he summoned a team of stars to play with him. “If there’s one thing about being president, it’s that you can invite someone and you know he’ll accept,” he said slyly. The stars were LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose. Also in 2010, during a game at Fort McNair, near Washington, he injured his lip. Spokesman Robert Gibbs specified that “the president was accidentally hit with the elbow by an opponent”. Reggie Love, a former Duke player and later personal assistant to the president, was also on the field. In 2015, for the annual visit of the NBA champions to the White House, he welcomed the San Antonio Spurs where Belinelli was there. “We miss you so much to the Bulls, Marco,” he told him. “The president knows who I am and he misses me,” said the Beli. Every year he compiled in front of the cameras the predictions of the university tournament, the “bracket” that fans and non-fans draw up for the so-called “march madness”. In 2009 he guessed the North Carolina win.

Michelle and Paul

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The Suns returned to play the title finals in 2021 when they lost to Milwaukee after winning the first two games of the series. Team leader Chris Paul, the 37-year-old point guard who in recent days has lined up alongside former First Lady Michelle Obama in a video to invite people to vote in the mid-term elections scheduled for November 8th.