Former Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Caused One of the NBA's Biggest Scandals

"There's no room for that in our game. Can't have that from a player, we can't ever from an owner, we can't have it from a fan," LeBron James said.

Apr. 26 2024, Published 11:00 a.m. ET

Race in the NBA has at all times been a fraught subject, but rarely has the issue been more acute than it was in 2014. One of the biggest scandals to ever rock the league made its solution to Los Angeles. The scandal has reverberations that have lasted to at the moment, and now, a new limited collection goes to focus on the occasions of the sequence and their aftermath.

If you were not following the league again when the scandal broke in 2014, or in order for you a refresher, then you're in luck. Here's the whole lot we learn about the LA Clippers scandal relating to former owner Donald Sterling.

What happened all through the LA Clippers scandal in 2014?

The scandal broke throughout a first spherical playoff sequence between the LA Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. Tape was once leaked of Donald Sterling, who owned the Clippers at the time, making racist statements to his his mistress, V. Stiviano.

There had been dozens of incidents involving Donald over his time in the league that may have justified kicking him out, but this tape used to be, for many, the final straw.

"In your lousy f--king Instagram, you don't have to have yourself walking with Black people," he mentioned on the tape. "It bothers me a lot that you want to promote, broadcast that you're associating with Black people. Do you have to?"

At one level, Stiviano even asks Donald if he's mindful that lots of the other folks he employs through the Clippers are Black.

"Do I know? I support them, and give them food and clothes and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game?" he said.

The reaction from the league's gamers was swift, and many said that they'd no longer play their upcoming playoff video games if NBA commissioner Adam Silver didn't immediately take motion to remove Donald.

"There's no room for that in our game," LeBron James mentioned the following day. "Can't have that from a player, we can't ever from an owner, we can't have it from a fan, and so on and so on. It doesn't matter if you're Black, white, Hispanic, or whatever the case may be. We can't have that as part of our game."

Adam Silver was just 90 days into his time on the job, and the threat of a league-wide walkout used to be more actual than many of us realized. Thankfully, Adam spoke back as it should be and banned Donald from the league for existence and instituting a $2.Five million high quality on him, the most allowed by the league.

Donald was once additionally stripped right away of all of his energy over the team, and compelled to sell his ownership stake in it. It used to be one among the most serious punishments ever put on the proprietor of a professional sports activities staff, and one that in the end saved the wider league as an entire. Now, a decade later, it's transparent that Adam's response used to be totally justified.

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