Donald Sterling Banned from the NBA

Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchise of the NBA is facing a life-time ban over an audio recording that has surfaced through ‘TMZ’ which has now been proven to be the voice of Donald Sterling himself and “mistress” V. Stiviano.  The leaked conversation that is now floating all over the internet has depicted Sterling as a racist that should have no place in the NBA as he appeared to be uncomfortable and irritated with the fact that Stiviano had been associating herself with African-Americans and in particular a photo in which she posed alongside Magic Johnson, that she made public through Instagram and other social media.

Donald Sterling and V. Stiviano
(source: http://ab.co/1olyQBf)

Sterling’s comments to Stiviano:

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people", and, "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want", but "the little I ask you is ... not to bring them to my games."[1]

The newly appointed NBA commissioner (as of 1^st February 2014) Adam Silver had to make a big decision early into his career as commissioner, and that was to take serious action. Prior to this incident Sterling had a poor reputation to begin with among st association, the punishment imposed by Silver included a lifetime banishment from the NBA and Clippers organization and a $2.5 million fine, which may not seem like much in comparison to Sterling’s $1.9 billion net worth, however it was the maximum amount that could be imposed as of the guidelines. 

"Mr Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices, he may not be present at any Clippers facility and he may not participate in any business or player-personnel decision involving the team"

Currently Sterling is the rightful owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, however Adam Silver and the other NBA team owners are showing their support in dismissing Sterling and are now planning on forcing him to sell the Clippers by voting him out. Sterling had signed moral and ethical contracts with the NBA which and this has recently emerged to be part of the legal strategy to banish Donald Sterling on the grounds of "fail(s) or refuse(s) to fulfill its contractual obligations to the Association”[2] as part of the leagues constitution, furthermore the owners finance committee consisting of 10 owners have already agreed on voting Sterling out, as the rest of the owners have not yet formally voted, but it is highly likely that we will see the support of 75% of owners that need to be in agreement to remove Sterling of his ownership of the Clippers.

Clippers show their support against by wearing warm up jerseys inside out, hiding the Clippers logo.
(source: http://bit.ly/1nEAP1g)

With a rallying amount of support from almost everyone involved in the NBA and the fans, we are witnessing a form of unity against Sterling’s unacceptable remarks and behavior as teams have shown their support by speaking out or through making a statement which may not seem like much, however it does represent the harmonious nature of the league.

Sterling, very familiar with the legal system and also a lawyer by trade will not go down without a fight as he has no intention to sell the Clippers therefore we will most likely see this go to court which may take a lifetime to settle whilst being a very messy legal case. It is believed that the estimated value of the Clippers  may exceed $1 Billion USD with many high valued people showing their interest in buying the franchise. 

[1]  "L.A. Clippers owner to GF: Don't bring black people to my games ... including Magic Johnson". TMZ.com. EHM Productions. April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2014.

[2] http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10892918/nba-legal-strategy-remove-donald-sterling-los-angeles-clippers-owner-emerges