Isiah Thomas' New York Liberty Ownership Application Suspended by WNBA

When Isiah Thomas was appointed president of the WNBA's New York Liberty, the possibility for him to secure a partial ownership stake was also established. The league and the team agreed to suspend any consideration for that ownership stake Monday, however.

"After further discussion and with the season underway, the WNBA and the New York Liberty have agreed to suspend consideration of Isiah Thomas' application for an ownership interest in the Liberty until further notice," the league posted in a statement on WNBA.com. "The process will resume at a future time as determined by the Liberty."

A committee of six WNBA owners had been appointed to review Thomas' interest in an ownership stake. They did not have any power to rescind his appointment as an executive, however.

While it isn't clear why the league chose to suspend Thomas' application, Connecticut Sun CEO Mitchell Etess said in early June that "he had questions about Thomas' potential ownership considering a multimillion dollar judgment against the Madison Square Garden organization after a jury found Thomas sexually harassed a former team employee during Thomas' last employment in New York," wrote Nina Mandell of USA Today.

Anucha Browne Sanders, the employee in question, won $11.6 million in the ruling, per Mandell.

Hired as the New York Knicks' president of basketball operations in 2003, Thomas became the head coach in 2006 after the firing of Larry Brown. Thomas was eventually let go in 2008 after the Knicks finished 23-59.

In an interview with Scott Cacciola of the New York Times, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson said that when James Dolan, executive chairman of the Madison Square Garden Company, told him he was going to hire Thomas about a month before the move became official, Jackson responded by asking, "Are you cognizant of the fact that this at least has the look of putting the fox in the henhouse?"

There is no immediate timetable on how long further decision by the WNBA will take.