"You would have to ask him that," he said. "I don't know."
This interview took place before the Suns decided to block New Times from any such interview with the star.
AP/Wide World Photos
Suns owner Robert Sarver seemed unaware of Carrie Stoudemire's arrest record.
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Not only did nobody in Suns management below Sarver want a reporter to ask Stoudemire about his mother's legal problems, no Suns official wanted the subject broached to him or her either.
Mark West, the Suns' assistant general manager in charge of basketball player development, did not return several calls and e-mails seeking comment on Carrie Stoudemire's legal problems. Neither did Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo.
In addition to being seemingly unaware of Amaré's family situation, Sarver told New Times he wasn't fully aware of Stoudemire's knee problems before he signed the $73 million, five-year contract extension -- the maximum allowed under NBA rules.
"At the time we extended his contract, we knew he had some pain in his knee," Sarver said. "But the severity of his condition was not known to me. The fact that he needed surgery on his knee -- I did not know that."
Asked if he was surprised when Stoudemire decided to undergo exploratory surgery eight days after getting the huge contract, Sarver said, "Yeah, I was surprised."
The decision to do exploratory surgery came after additional doctors were brought in to study an MRI of Stoudemire's left knee. Sarver told New Times that he was unaware at the time the contract was signed that such an MRI -- which had uncovered a "defect" in Stoudemire's knee cartilage -- even existed.
"We found out in training camp when he went and got a couple of opinions and they went and looked at the MRI that he needed to have that surgery done," Sarver said.
In retrospect, Sarver said he has no regrets about signing Stoudemire to the fat contract:
"The issue that he had with his knee is something we felt totally comfortable with. [We felt] he was going to eventually get healed and be fine."
Every Suns fan hopes this isn't wishful thinking on Sarver's part, since the history of professional basketball players fully recovering from microfracture surgery isn't encouraging.
While Stoudemire may be facing a daunting recovery -- plus dealing with the stark reality that his mother may be going to prison for a long time -- his stepfather isn't worried about the young man.
"You know, when you look at his life, from his childhood on, it's adversity that's pushed him," said Artis Wilson, Carrie Stoudemire's ex-husband.
"Amaré has the maturity of a 30- to 40-year-old," Wilson said, and is coping with his mother's problems. Amaré's deep spiritual faith pulls him through difficult times, Wilson said. It also tempers the thrilling highs of the success that has come his way during his fledgling NBA career.
Wilson said Stoudemire is just beginning to make his mark in the world and predicts that his power and influence will extend far beyond pro basketball.
"We have known and believed for a while that Amaré is bigger than just Amaré, the Phoenix Suns NBA player, because of his spirituality," Wilson said.
"Later in life, Amaré is going to reach out with the same effect he has had with people on the basketball court. He's going to have that effect in ghettos and barrios . . . because he has a love and a passion for people who're hurtin' and especially kids who're hurtin'."
It may sound strange, Wilson said, but Amaré's mother is the reason he's who he is.
"Just because somebody's gotten in trouble doesn't mean they don't have a good heart," Wilson said.
Carrie Stoudemire, who has spent most of her life entangled with the criminal justice system, instilled in Amaré a powerful desire to succeed and, more important, a compulsion to help those in need, according to Wilson.
"You know, when people read things about his mom, on paper it just looks like she's just this big bad wolf. But in real life, they don't read that it's hard for her to pass by a homeless guy without giving him money.
"They don't read that she's taken a diamond ring off her finger and given it to somebody in need. They don't read that she took a homeless kid into her house. She didn't call the newspaper to tell that.
"But you see," Wilson said, "that same stuff is in Amaré."
