Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life and fined $2.5 million following the racist comments he allegedly made to his ex-girlfriend, V. Stiviano.
The fine levied against Silver is the maximum allowed under the league's constitution (via Ken Berger of CBS Sports)
Silver said he will urge the NBA Board of Governors to force a sale of the Clippers (via Berger)
Silver also announced that the NBA concluded its investigation with the belief it was Sterling's voice on the audio tape (via Berger)
Finally, Silver condemned Sterling's remarks, saying the league stood together in opposition to the owner (via Berger)
On April 25, TMZ Sports reported that it had Sterling on tape chastising Stiviano for "associating with black people" in public arenas. He was particularly upset that she would invite Magic Johnson to Clippers games, in addition to taking pictures with black people and posting them to Instagram.
Since then, multiple companies have disassociated with the organization, including Red Bull, Kia, Virgin America and Adidas:
Kevin Johnson, who is the mayor of Sacramento and National Basketball Players Association search committee chairman, released a full statement on Facebook and described the situation as "a defining moment in the NBA."
I do not think about the racist comments of a wealthy white man who happens to own a sports franchise and who, until this week, the vast majority of Americans had never heard of.
But this much is true: how we choose to deal with Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling will absolutely be a defining moment in the NBA.
Mr. Sterling’s comments represent the worst of ignorance and intolerance. Despite that, we cannot sit idly by and watch him implode. While some would argue that we should watch with glee as this racist business owner destroys himself, for the sake of the NBA, we must intervene and engage to bring this to resolution swiftly.
On Tuesday, TMZ reported that the recording of Sterling making racist remarks has been authenticated by two NBA players.
Sterling's remarks have been met with universal scorn, especially considering how this isn't the first time his insular and outdated beliefs have come to light. Deadspin's Timothy Burke provided a compendium of the racist comments the Clippers owner has made in the years leading up to this most recent incident.
Former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor said that he had to endure over two decades of Sterling's racism
Chris Paul, who is the president of the National Basketball Players Association, released a statement on the NBPA's official website:
On behalf of the National Basketball Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively. We have asked Mayor Kevin Johnson to expand his responsibilities with the NBPA, to determine our response and our next steps. As players, we owe it to our teams and our fans to keep our focus on our game, the playoffs, and a drive to the Finals.What to do with Sterling presented Silver with a particularly tricky decision barely three months into his new job. How he handled the issue sets the tone for the rest of his time as commissioner and will undoubtedly be a part of his larger legacy.
In short, this was something he couldn't mess up
In an interview on ESPN, via the Chicago Tribune, Schott said of Adolf Hitler, "Everybody knows he was good at the beginning but he just went too far."
That was four years after a similar incident in which she admitted to having a swastika armband at her home.
Political analyst Jeff Greenfield pointed out that Major League Baseball didn't take the Reds from Schott outright, but it made her position so untenable that she had no other recourse but to relinquish control, which she did in 1999
Public shaming likely won't work if the league's goal is to get Sterling to sell the Clippers. This is an owner who willingly put out a losing product for years because it was turning him a profit. In 2009, ESPN named the Clips the worst franchise in sports, due in large part to their owner.
The simplest way to take Sterling out of the equation is to ensure that owning the team is no longer financially viable. We've already seen some of the Clippers' biggest sponsors pulling out of their deals, which could lead Sterling to sell.
What could also force the owner's hand is if he doesn't have a head coach and players to play the games. Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Rivers and some of the team's biggest stars may refuse to be members of the Clippers organization as long as Sterling is the owner:
Rivers will never return as president and coach under Sterling, sources told Yahoo Sports, and that'll start the beginning of a player mutiny that could result with several top Clippers also demanding out of the franchise.Clippers fans, and sports fans in general, will be all too happy to have Sterling away from the limelight for at least the time being.
It's likely just a matter of time before Sterling is no longer the owner of the Clippers.
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