NBA drops the hammer on Clippers owner Donald Sterling

[Axeman33]

http://nba.si.com/2014/04/29/donald-...ers/?eref=sihp

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has imposed a lifetime ban and a maximum $2.5 million fine on Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was caught on tape making a series of racist remarks that became public on Friday.

After promising to grant “due process” to Sterling and to investigate the authenticity of the audio during a press conference in Memphis on Saturday, Silver handed down the punishment at a press conference in New York City on Tuesday.

“Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA,” Silver said. “Mr. Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices. He may not be present at any Clippers facility. He may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. He will also be barred from attending NBA Board of Governors meetings or participating in any other league activity.”

Additionally, Silver pledged to take steps to force Sterling to sell the Clippers.

“I will urge the Board of Governors to exercise its authority to force the sale of the team,” Silver said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that that happens. … I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners.”

TMZ released audio of a conversation in which Sterling can be heard scolding V. Stiviano, his girlfriend, for bringing African-Americans to Clippers games and for posting photos of herself and African-Americans, including Lakers legend Magic Johnson, to her Instagram account.

Silver said the NBA was able to authenticate that it was Sterling’s voice on the tape and that Sterling acknowledged that it was his voice during the investigation. In a statement issued Saturday, Clippers president Andy Roeser had questioned the legitimacy of the recording.

“The central findings of the investigation are that the man whose voice is heard on the recording and on a second recording from the same conversation that was released on Sunday is Mr. Sterling and that the hateful opinions voiced by that man are those of Mr. Sterling,” Silver said. “The views expressed by Mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful. That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage. Sentiments of this kind are contrary to the principles of inclusion and respect that form the foundation of our diverse, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic league.”

Silver also issued an apology on behalf of the NBA for Sterling’s comments.

“I am personally distraught that the views expressed by Mr. Sterling came from within an institution that has historically taken such a leadership role in matters of race relations and caused current and former players, coaches, fans and partners of the NBA to question their very association with the league,” Silver said. “To them, and pioneers of the game like Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, Sweetwater Clifton, the great Bill Russell and particularly Magic Johnson, I apologize.”

Silver said the $2.5 million fine was the “maximum amount allowed under the NBA constitution.” The funds will be donated to organizations that promote tolerance.

Prior to Tuesday’s press conference, at least 16 NBA owners had issued public statements against Sterling.

Late Monday night, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, speaking as an adviser for the National Basketball Players Association, called on Silver to suspend Sterling and assess the maximum fine allowed.

United States president Barack Obama, NBA legends Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and NBPA representatives Chris Paul and Kevin Johnson have all expressed their opposition to Sterling, and the Clippers, Heat, Rockets and Blazers all participated in silent protests against Sterling by wearing their warm-up shirts inside out or donning black socks during their recent playoff games. Multiple companies announced Monday that they would suspend their corporate sponsorship agreements with the Clippers, and coach Doc Rivers said that he won’t necessarily return to the club next season, even though he is under contract. Even Sterling’s wife, Rochelle, distanced herself from the comments.

The Clippers will host the Warriors at the Staples Center on Tuesday night.


Now, after reading all that, I found NBA Legend, Kareem Abdul Jabbars comments to be quite interesting too and worth the read.

http://toprightnews.com/?p=2777

[Spec7ral]

Thanks for posting. Great news, but the league in general had been turning a blind eye to this for eons. Sterling has always been a bigot piece of shit. Sad that it takes tmz and twitter to make anyone pay any mind. If the NBA actual cared about the issue it would have been dealt with years ago. They only cared about the gong show that was created by the growing mob mentality. The 2.5 mil fine is the best. He's probably even more angry about that. He can qualify the not being a part of the NBA with his racist irrationality, but losing 2.5 mil is losing 2.5 mil no matter how you cut it. Hopefully he gets lowballed on the sale of the team as well.

[Magicstew]

Good for them for coming down hard on Sterling. Wouldn't want to be on his bus. We will see what the fallout will be.

[mister_mcgoo]

I think they're going to have trouble trying to 'force' him to sell the team simply because he can argue that the league has effectively devalued his asset (the team) by forcing the issue and therefore he is not able to get fair market value for them.

Also, from what I understand of it, while the NBA does have a provision in it's constitution that allows a team to be sold out from under an owner it does not apply for a reason like this. Basically there are provisions in there for an owner that is financially unable to meet his obligations as an NBA owner (as with everything all that matters is money right?)...sorta like how the NHL took over Phoenix. So what will likely happen is that the ban and fine will stand (unless maybe he can argue that the recording was made illegally), but as to whether he has to sell the team, I suspect the best the NBA can do is put a ton of pressure on him, I think if they try to force the issue legally they risk being sued themselves. Hopefully they can simply force the issue enough that he does the right thing on his own and ****s off for good.

[Pengwin7]

Did Jabbar really say "Hoda & Kathie Lee"?!!!!
(honestly, I don't want to even touch this subject... what a D-bag Sterling... but that's a good link on Jabbar's comments...)

[metaldude26]

Damn straight!

[Rylant]

I think they're going to have trouble trying to 'force' him to sell the team simply because he can argue that the league has effectively devalued his asset (the team) by forcing the issue and therefore he is not able to get fair market value for them.

They won't have any legal problems forcing him to sell. According to Article 35 of the NBA Constitution, the commissioner can force a sale of the team with a league vote. If 22 owners out of 30 agree, which they will, he has to sell. There has to be proof of "conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA", which, I think they have in spades.

As far as losing money, he bought the Clippers in 81 for 12.5 million. They are now worth an estimated 575 million. Donald Sterling has an estimated net worth of 1.9 billion dollars.

Rylant

[Loch]

Man did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ever nail it.

[mister_mcgoo]

They won't have any legal problems forcing him to sell. According to Article 35 of the NBA Constitution, the commissioner can force a sale of the team with a league vote. If 22 owners out of 30 agree, which they will, he has to sell. There has to be proof of "conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA", which, I think they have in spades.

As far as losing money, he bought the Clippers in 81 for 12.5 million. They are now worth an estimated 575 million. Donald Sterling has an estimated net worth of 1.9 billion dollars.

Rylant

are you sure about that? Everything I heard about it said that the NBA constitution was completely private and not publicly published anywhere, so I would be wary of anything claiming knowledge of it's articles...do you have a source for where you got this?

Also, I thought Mark Cuban's comments on the subject were telling (i.e. he agrees with everything except this whole notion of selling a team out from under an owner)

I think there's a [league] constitution for a reason, right?" Cuban said before Game 4 of the Mavericks-San Antonio Spurs series. "Because this is a very slippery slope. What Donald said was wrong. It was abhorrent. There's no place for racism in the NBA, any business I'm associated with, and I don't want to be associated with people who have that position.

"But at the same time, that's a decision I make. I think you've got to be very, very careful when you start making blanket statements about what people say and think, as opposed to what they do. It's a very, very slippery slope.

"Again, there's no excuse for his positions. There's no excuse for what he said. There's no excuse for anybody to support racism. There's no place for it in our league, but there's a very, very, very slippery slope.

[Shiva Blaster]

WHAM! No messing around, a perfectly justified heavy-handed punishment IMO, great work by the new commish!

[JagrBomb]

are you sure about that? Everything I heard about it said that the NBA constitution was completely private and not publicly published anywhere, so I would be wary of anything claiming knowledge of it's articles...do you have a source for where you got this?

Also, I thought Mark Cuban's comments on the subject were telling (i.e. he agrees with everything except this whole notion of selling a team out from under an owner)

i've always liked cuban, ever since i saw him on Entourage haha.

also, **** Sterling. i'm glad he was exposed to the whole world as a racist. no matter where he goes, no matter who he talks to, they will know he is a racist prick.

2.5M is nothing compared to the looks of disgust he will get that will follow him around until he dies.

[SixtyPercentOfTheTime]

I think they might have some trouble forcing him to sell the team. I'm glad the NBA took this seriously though.

[Thunder]

I'm kind of surprised that the rules can be interpreted in such a way as to fine someone for comments made in private to a person unrelated to the team/league.

I kind of of get why you'd be able to impose a ban. If you think of the league as a club, it makes sense that the club would be able to say "you know what, you're just not the kind of person we want around." But the fine is odd to me. I would think fines should be limited to violations that are directly related to team/league management issues.

That said, I read on Mother Jones yesterday that a $2.5M fine for Sterling is the equivalent of a $59 fine for the median American (based on a comparison between Sterling's estimated net worth the median net worth). That sure puts some things in perspective.

[Instant Karma]

They won't have any legal problems forcing him to sell. According to Article 35 of the NBA Constitution, the commissioner can force a sale of the team with a league vote. If 22 owners out of 30 agree, which they will, he has to sell. There has to be proof of "conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA", which, I think they have in spades.

As far as losing money, he bought the Clippers in 81 for 12.5 million. They are now worth an estimated 575 million. Donald Sterling has an estimated net worth of 1.9 billion dollars.

Rylant

I tend to agree w/ mcgoo here.

I don't think that getting the votes to oust Sterling is going to be the slam-dunk (pun definitely intended) that people assume that it will be. The commissioner acting unilaterally at the height of this media firestorm is one thing. Getting the NBA owners to a) reach a 75% consensus and b) enact a death sentence that doubtless some of them could foresee being used on themselves at some point in the future is quite another.

[Dobber]

My thoughts:

While Silver did everything he could and he did really well, it's really not a punishment. Let's investigate:

1. Banned for life. The guy's like, 80. So what...he's banned for 5 or 6 months? Due to croak any minute

2. Fined $2.5 million. And they'll enforce that...how? By threatening to ban him if he doesn't? Oops, already done. So...through the courts? Let's assume the courts are quick to rule in favor of the NBA - I'm sure the ruling will still take longer than the 6 months I give the old fogey to live.

3. Sell the team? Well now you give Sterling something to live for - he'll have a blast fighting this for 5 or 6 months until he dies. The NBA will have a ton of headaches with this until he kicks it.

Anyway, Silver did everything he could and more. Kudos. But the reality is, this will end up being a whole lot of nothing. Bluster, no substance. But nothing more that can be done, unfortunately