Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein is at the center of a bombshell allegation included in a federal lawsuit filed against the team.
The lawsuit was filed by Gene Traylor, who had previously served as the Suns’ director of safety, security, and risk management before he was later demoted. In the suit, Traylor, a black man, claimed that he was subjected to “racial discrimination and retaliatory demotion.”
One of the more shocking claims Traylor made in the suit involved an accusation that Bartelstein had a relationship with former Phoenix Mercury player Sophie Cunningham. In court documents acquired by Front Office Sports, Traylor recounted an October 2024 conversation with Bartelstein.
Traylor allegedly warned Bartelstein about a team executive named Cornelius Craig, whom Traylor believed to be “spreading damaging information” that “could jeopardize the organization.”
Paragraph 35 of the suit indicates what Craig allegedly said about Bartelstein (profanity edited by LBS).
“When Bartelstein asked Plaintiff (Traylor) to reveal what Craig was saying, Plaintiff explained that Craig had been telling others, ‘Josh Bartelstein is f—ing Sophie Cunningham,’” the court document stated.
Cunningham spent her first six WNBA seasons with the Mercury, the sister team of the Suns. She was traded to the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Traylor alleged that Craig, who is also black, was hired specifically to “target” him at the “behest of racist executives.” Traylor claimed in the suit that those Suns executives viewed him as a “threat to the organization” and hired another black man, Craig, to demote him without the move being considered racially motivated.
You can read the full document, including Traylor’s other claims, here.
The Suns have been trying to distance themselves from the widely reported workplace misconduct, racism, and misogyny that permeated the organization before Robert Sarver sold the team to Mat Ishbia in 2022.
With the Suns being hit with several lawsuits over the past few months, the team’s problems off the court seem far from resolved.
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