The Phoenix Suns have let go of an employee who is suing the team for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, according to ESPN.
Gene Traylor, who was the Suns’ director of safety, security, and risk management since January 2023, was fired on Friday.
“Usually, the organization does not discuss internal staff matters. However, Mr. Traylor or his lawyer, Sheree Wright, decided to make his termination public,” said Stacey Mitch, the Suns’ Senior Vice President of Communications, in a statement to ESPN. “Mr. Traylor lost his job as a security manager because an independent investigation found that he broke company rules about keeping security operations confidential and that he lied to the investigator.”
Wright is one of Traylor’s attorneys. The other attorney is Courtney Walters, who stated to ESPN, “Neither Mr. Traylor nor his lawyers shared news about his termination. The Suns are trying to distract from the serious claims in this lawsuit by pushing a false story. The so-called ‘independent investigation’ was just a cover to justify a firing based on retaliation rather than truth. The organization’s response only highlights the behavior we are challenging. We will continue to support our client through this legal battle.”
As part of the lawsuit, Traylor’s lawyers plan to request that the Suns provide all documents related to the investigation that resulted in his firing.
In mid-May, Traylor’s lawyers filed a lawsuit against the Suns in U.S. District Court in Arizona.
In total, five civil lawsuits have been filed against the organization by current or former employees in federal court over the past ten months.
The most recent lawsuit was filed in July by attorneys for Nikki Blue, who served as the interim coach for the Phoenix Mercury. They accused the organization of race and gender discrimination along with retaliation.
Traylor claimed that one of his main jobs was to spot safety, financial, and reputation risks for the Suns. In 2023, he created a presentation for management that ESPN had previously reviewed, highlighting specific issues of concern.
Traylor alleged that this presentation caused Suns management to retaliate against him, which included demoting him nearly a year later. He also claimed that the team discouraged him from taking protected leave after he received a cancer diagnosis.
According to the lawsuit, on December 17, 2023, officers from the Phoenix Police Department’s Homeland Defense Bureau tested security measures at the Suns’ arena during a game. Officers in plain clothes tried to enter using valid game tickets while hiding weapons. Two officers managed to sneak a knife into the arena without being noticed.
On December 3, 2024, those same officers conducted another security test and successfully brought two handguns and one knife through security checks.
ESPN acquired reports detailing both of these security tests.
“Ensuring guest safety is our main concern,” a spokesperson for the Suns told ESPN earlier. “We always meet and go beyond safety standards. We regularly perform security checks, which is normal practice in the industry. We have taken these proactive steps to guarantee that we operate at the highest level of safety and readiness.”
Traylor’s lawsuit claimed that in February 2025, the NBA carried out its own security review of the team’s arena, and the Suns did not pass this evaluation either. According to Traylor, this audit was unexpected—something the league routinely does at arenas throughout the NBA—and it was not done because of any issues he had raised or in response to a failed test from February 2024.
Since 2024, sources within the team have informed ESPN that they have not passed several other league security audits.
The Suns denied this claim, stating that they have never failed a security audit.
