New Suns GM Brian Gregory on head coaching search, role of Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein
The Suns are looking to redefine the team identity with that coach that brings a systematic approach, toughness and accountability
A lawsuit alleges Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein had an affair with former Mercury player and Suns analyst Sophie Cunningham.The Suns and Mercury deny the allegations and criticize the attorney who filed the lawsuit.The lawsuit, on behalf of a security director, also alleges workplace discrimination and arena safety issues.
Phoenix Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein was accused of having an affair with former Mercury player Sophie Cunningham — an accusation that prompted a categorical denial by the teams and the WNBA player.
The explosive allegation was included in a workplace discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of a current member of the organizations’ security staff.
Gene Traylor, the safety and training development leader for Player 15 Group, the parent company of the Suns and Mercury, is suing. Traylor said his boss, Cornelius Craig, told him and other employees about the relationship.
The accusation was made in a wide-ranging civil lawsuit filed on May 13 in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona by attorney Sheree Wright.
The NBA and WNBA franchises denied and condemned the “salacious lies and fabrications” in a written statement to The Arizona Republic. The statement also blasted Wright, who now has filed four discrimination lawsuits, all unrelated, against the Suns since November 2024.
“The recent reports concerning Josh Bartelstein and Sophie Cunningham are entirely false and morally reprehensible,” Stacey Mitch, the vice president of communications for the Suns and Mercury, wrote in an email to The Republic.
Mitch wrote that Wright “will not extort our organization and never see a single dollar.”
Cunningham, who also worked as a Suns television analyst, responded in a social media post on May 21:
“I am deeply saddened by the recent false accusations made against me by Gene Traylor, someone I do not know and have never met. Let me be clear his statements are untrue and extremely hurtful.
“I am here to compete, play basketball at the highest level and win for my team and my fans, while inspiring other women that they can do or be anything they ever dream of becoming. I hold myself to the highest integrity and my values are what guide me on and off the court.
“I will not let untrue gossip take my focus away from what is most important to me which is basketball, my supportive team and my fans.”
Craig, the vice president of security and risk management for Player 15 Group, did not respond to a request for comment and deleted his LinkedIn profile after being contacted by The Republic.
The NBA and WNBA did not respond to requests for comment about their fraternization policies.
Wright issued a statement to The Republic:
“The Phoenix Suns’ statement is not only defamatory, it is an act of open retaliation against protected legal advocacy. I stand firmly behind the allegations brought in our federal complaint, which are based on documented evidence, corroborated witness accounts, and facts that the Suns would prefer remain buried. The claim involving Sophie Cunningham is not fabricated — it was corroborated long before the complaint was filed, and the organization is well aware of this.
“The Suns’ latest statement falsely accuses me of filing lawsuits to extort the organization and attacks my professional record in an effort to deflect from the egregious conduct alleged by multiple former employees. I will not be intimidated by public relations spin or personal smear tactics.
“If the Suns believe the facts are on their side, they are free to produce their executives and employees under oath in a court of law. We welcome that process and are prepared for it.”
Affair, arena security issues alleged in lawsuit filed by employee
Mat Ishbia bought the Suns and Mercury for $4 billion in February 2023 after an investigation by ESPN and the NBA uncovered a toxic workplace culture under former owner Robert Sarver.
Bartelstein, who is married, has been with the organization since April 2023. Cunningham, a guard, was drafted by the Mercury in 2019 and played her entire career in Phoenix until being traded to the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Traylor was hired amid the ownership change in January 2023 as the organization’s director of safety, security and risk management. He alleges in the lawsuit that he gave a security presentation that Bartelstein disliked in December 2023, “became the target of increasing hostility,” and received a negative quarterly review on Feb. 6, 2024.
Traylor was demoted shortly thereafter, when Craig was hired as the vice president of security and risk management.
Traylor and Craig are both Black, as is Suns’ human resources director Kim Corbitt.
“Defendant frequently resorts to the shameful and pathetic defense, ‘How can it be racial discrimination if the supervisor or manager is Black?’” the lawsuit states. “The answer is clear: it is racial discrimination when a Black supervisor or manager is explicitly hired to target Black employees at the behest of racist executives.”
Traylor also contends in the lawsuit that PHX Arena, formerly known as Footprint Center, has failed security inspections performed by law enforcement and NBA security officials, who were able to smuggle weapons into the building.
“Defendant’s arena is highly vulnerable,” the lawsuit states, “and since handguns and knives can be easily brought into the venue, Plaintiff often expressed serious concern about the potential disaster that could unfold if dangerous individuals were to breach security with weapons.
“The blood of those victims would rest on Defendant’s hands, yet Plaintiff was retaliated against, demoted, and harassed for his efforts to prevent such a catastrophe.”
Traylor also claims he was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 and was dissuaded by Craig from filing paperwork to request medical leave under FMLA.
“Each time the Plaintiff initiated the FMLA process, Craig would threaten the Plaintiff’s job security,” the lawsuit states. “On one occasion, Craig told the Plaintiff, ‘You can be in Hawaii for all I care, as long as you meet your deliverables.’
“During this vulnerable and emotional period, Craig’s threats to the Plaintiff’s job security made Plaintiff reasonably fear that exercising his rights to FMLA or requesting ADA accommodations would result in termination.”
Suns spokesperson responds: ‘misleading and false narratives’
The lawsuit also said Traylor met with Bartelstein in October 2024, in which he voiced his “serious and repeated concerns regarding Craig.” Traylor told Bartelstein that Craig had informed other employees of a sexual relationship between Bartelstein and Cunningham. But the Suns took “no disciplinary action,” according to the lawsuit.
“At this point, a troubling conclusion emerges: either there was nothing Craig could do that would result in his termination, or Craig possesses compromising information that shields him from accountability,” the lawsuit states.
Traylor and Craig remain employed by Player 15 Group.
Mitch, the organization’s vice president of communications, equated Traylor’s lawsuit with three other federal discrimination suits filed by Wright on behalf of former employees Andrea Trischan, Jason Cope and “Jane Doe.”
“Ms. Wright has now filed four separate lawsuits against the organization, seeking over $140 million dollars in compensation,” Mitch wrote in a statement to The Republic. “To date, her cases have been dismissed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Arizona Civil Rights Division or voluntarily withdrawn.
“She continues to insert salacious lies and fabrications into her complaints — knowing that the media may report them as fact, as happened yesterday (May 19) — she hopes to coerce the Phoenix Suns into settling. Sheree Wright will not extort our organization and never see a single dollar.
“We will pursue all available legal avenues and hold those accountable for participating in the spread of misleading and false narratives.”