Larry Fitzgerald becoming part-owner of Suns valuable in many ways

Larry Fitzgerald is now part-owner of a NBA franchise. For a current NFL player and the son of a sportswriter, that is a remarkable financial accomplishment.

Fitzgerald will serve a small but important role. He will bring his ambassadorship and good vibes to a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs in nearly a decade. Hopefully, he’ll help keep Robert Sarver in line and out of the kitchen. At the very least, he will soften the image of an owner who is as reviled as Fitzgerald is revered.

You wonder how the Cardinals really feel about this development, having to share Arizona’s greatest treasure with the Suns. He is part of both franchises now. That’s a fact.

And yet Fitzgerald’s most important contribution will come elsewhere, as mentor to the most important member of Planet Orange. Fitzgerald is Devin Booker insurance.

If Booker gets frustrated over the quality of his teammates in Phoenix, Fitzgerald can rattle off 21 different quarterbacks he played with in Arizona. Booker is old enough to roll his eyes at some of the names.

If Booker gets frustrated with all the losing, Fitzgerald can share the valleys he’s experienced over his remarkable career in the desert.

If Booker can take no more and wants to find greener grass elsewhere, Fitzgerald can show him the power and wisdom of staying in one place.

All of it will come in handy at some point.

So much of this ownership story is focused on the unlikely pairing of Fitzgerald and Sarver, who are now business partners, biking partners and a sitcom in the making.

Sarver can truly benefit from Fitzgerald’s beloved status, his acute observations, and his views on what it takes to compete at the highest level. He will be a great recruiting tool when luring the next potential free agent.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald just received what he wanted from the deal. A slice of ownership in a global empire. The ultimate end zone for any professional athlete.

For guys like Sarver, owning a sports team is harder than it looks. Moguls and billionaires enter a strange arena where rules of business no longer apply. Owners accustomed to elevating their business become wholly dependent on the service of professional athletes, who are moody, erratic and rough on the budget. The bottom line becomes is a won-loss record and a function of human competition, not linear production. There are no reliable formulas or assembly lines. It’s art and war all at once.

It’s one of the many reasons why average fans love sports. They humble the rich.

Fitzgerald will help Sarver because he can talk truth to Sarver. Because Sarver likes and trusts him. Because Fitzgerald is an icon, an A-list star and his presence alone adds more value to the franchise. And because Sarver knows the value of having Fitzgerald as a friend and confidante.

But Fitzgerald’s best work might come with Booker, who is approaching another mini-crossroad in his career. The Suns are struggling once again, threatening to miss the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. And if Booker misses another All-Star berth while playing the best basketball of his career, a sense of fatalism might take root.

He might begin to resent the franchise he’s represented so well. And that’s the moment when Fitzgerald will be the perfect mediator, able to reach Booker in ways that no one else in the organization can, including former NBA player James Jones.

Booker knows how popular Fitzgerald is in Arizona. He knows how well-respected Fitzgerald is outside the lines and across the globe. He wants to be on a pedestal just like Fitzgerald, and Booker said so himself, in a recent video clip released by the team.

Fitzgerald can teach Booker the things he needs to learn. The nuances of greatness. How to be a star on every platform. How to manage his career and his money. Where to focus in tough times. How to say the right things in every situation. And if the breaking point ever arrives for the Suns star, he can advise Booker on the folly of leaving State 48.

A class taught by the master.

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