Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA and fined the maximum $2.5 million for his infamous racist rant, league Commissioner Adam Silver announced Tuesday.
Taking swift and decisive action, a stern Silver also vowed to do “everything in my power” to make Sterling, 80, sell his team, which was abandoned by about a dozen sponsors following the revelation of his incendiary remarks.
The Clippers had planned boycott Tuesday’s NBA playoff game if Sterling wasn’t removed. But after Silver’s ruling, a seemingly energized LA team took the court to rousing applause and beat the Golden State Warriors 113-103.
Sterling can be forced to sell by a three-quarters vote of the NBA’s Board of Governors, which is made up of the league’s 30 team owners, and Silver said: “I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him.”
In response to Sterling’s unprecedented punishment:
— Current and former NBA players hailed Silver’s action, with Magic Johnson tweeting that the new commissioner “showed great leadership” and LeBron James thanking Silver for “protecting our beautiful and powerful league.”
— The Rev. Al Sharpton said Silver had agreed to meet with him and other civil-rights leaders to see “where we go from here after his bold step today.”
— Sneaker giant Adidas said it was reinstating its sponsorship of the Clippers, while automaker Kia said: “We look forward to a positive resolution and to continuing our relationships within the NBA community.”
—Researchers at UCLA said they would reject $3 million in funding from Sterling’s charitable foundation to support kidney research due to his “divisive and hurtful” comments.
— Several NBA owners voiced support for the move, including Dallas Mavericks principal Mark Cuban, who on Monday said the NBA shouldn’t force out Sterling “I agree 100% with Commissioner Silvers findings and the actions taken against Donald Sterling,” Cuban tweeted.
Immediately after Silver’s announcement, the Clippers replaced their official Web page with the words “WE ARE ONE” and the team’s logo against a stark black background.
Immediately after Silver’s announcement, the entire Clippers’ Web site was devoted to the message “WE ARE ONE,” in white type against a black background.
Speaking before their playoff game against the Warriors, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said the players did not know about the league’s decision when they went to practice Tuesday and that they reacted to it with “complete silence.”
It was unclear if Sterling would fight the punishment.
But shortly before Silver’s announcement, veteran sportscaster Jim Gray told Fox News that he had just spoken to Sterling, who said his team was “not for sale.”
Under terms of his ban, Sterling can’t attend any NBA games or practices, be present at any Clippers facilities or take part in any business or personnel decisions involving the team. He’s also barred from attending meetings of the league’s Board of Governors.
The money from Sterling’s $2.5 million fine will go to groups “dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and its Players Association,” Silver said.
The commissioner told a packed Midtown news conference that he was “personally distraught” by Sterling’s recorded remarks, in which he scolded then-girlfriend Stiviano for posting photos to her Instagram account that showed her with black people.
“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” he said.
Sterling also told Stiviano, “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that [Instagram] and not to bring them to my games.”
And he said of the black players on the Clippers, “I support them and give them food and clothes and cars and houses.”
“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,” Silver said.
“Sentiments of this kind are contrary to the principles of inclusion and respect that form the foundation of our diverse, multicultural and multiethnic league.”
He said the NBA “has historically taken such a leadership role in matters of race relations” and that Sterling “caused current and former players, coaches, fans and partners of the NBA to question their very association with the league.”
“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.
A photograph that Stiviano posted of herself and a friend posing with Johnson is what sparked Sterling’s racist ire.
His remarks were made public on the Web, on recordings released Friday by TMZ and Sunday by Deadspin.
Sterling was interviewed by the NBA as part of its probe and “acknowledged it was his voice on the tape,” Silver said.
Sterling has a history of racist comments, and was unsuccessfully sued for discrimination by NBA legend and ex-Clippers exec Elgin Baylor, who charged that the team had a “plantation mentality.”
Sterling, a residential-real-estate magnate, also paid a record $2.7 million settlement to the Justice Department after he was accused of discriminating against blacks, Hispanics and families with children at his buildings.
Sterling’s remarks to Stiviano previously drew condemnation from a host of notables, including President Obama, who called the comments “incredibly offensive.”
Also Tuesday, a photo emerged showing Stiviano standing next to Sterling’s now-estranged wife, Rochelle “Shelly” Sterling, in a group shot at a charity gala at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in November 2011.
A short time after the picture was taken, Shelly sued Stiviano over more than $2 million in cash and gifts that Donald showered on her.