Ron Harper, who played for the Clippers from 1989 to 1994, said owner Donald Sterling must sell the team or the sanctions imposed by commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday will be hollow.
Harper, a candidate to join Phil Jackson’s Knicks as a coach, said if Sterling doesn’t sell, his wife, Shelly, would run the show and Donald would maintain heavy influence.
Harper, once suspended by Sterling for comparing playing for the Clippers to being in jail, also said Tuesday that Sterling only owned the team for the prestige of having “movie stars’’ come to games.
“The only bad part is I know how much his wife loves the team and mostly I feel sad for her,’’ Harper told The Post. “The only way any of those sponsors are going to return is if they sell that team. If he transfers the power over to her, it still feels like he owns that team.
“When I was there she was very good and kind to me,’’ Harper said. “I was at a game last year, sat down and ate with her. She loves the team and the sport and loves basketball. She knows what’s going on. It’s probably going to hurt her more than him.”
Shelly Sterling is the plaintiff in a lawsuit against V. Stiviano — the former mistress who is at the center of the racially charged audio recording controversy — to recover property given to Stiviano in the course of a sexual relationship with Donald Sterling.
“Donald Sterling only has a team because he can afford it. He wanted movie stars come see his team play,” Harper said. “Believe me. He told me that, buddy, I was there. But she loved the team. He once said I’d never move to Anaheim because my Hollywood friends would never come down there. He loved his Hollywood friends coming to see the team play.’’
Harper said Sterling was “very good to me’’ and he never saw a racist streak from the real estate billionaire. Harper said he was “shellshocked’’ when he heard of the comments.
He related the story of a contract negotiation with Sterling. Despite Harper having a knee injury that would put him out for a season, Sterling still re-signed him to a long-term deal.
Harper made a controversial remark in his final season with the Clippers, saying he was “doing his time’’ with the franchise. He now says the jail reference wasn’t related to Sterling’s behavior but a series of bad trades.
“It was my contract year and after they traded Danny Manning to the Hawks, Charles Smith to the Knicks and Mark Jackson to the Pacers,’’ Harper said. “I was the only one left there. I was on my own. I said I’m doing my time like in jail before I’m free. They traded a lot of guys I liked.’’
Regarding Silver’s sanctions, Harper said, “I was happy. The lifetime ban was very good, the $2.5 million fine was the most he could do. But trying to force him to sell the team, that’s the one thing we’ll wait and see.’’