In the midst of one of the best NBA Playoffs series in recent memory, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has found himself in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
Sterling has shocked the NBA world after allegedly being caught on tape making racist remarks. The man on tape, said to be Sterling, though the audio is still unverified, tells his girlfriend, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you are associating with black people. Do you have to?”
He continues his rant, adding, “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in. You can do whatever you want. The little I ask is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”
Sterling made a point of singling out Los Angeles Lakers legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson in the rant. “Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”
Johnson was quick to reply on Twitter. His comments included “I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner”, and he later tweeted, “I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans.”
I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 26, 2014
This issue can’t be ignored by the new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the league. For a sport that is blessed with amazing African-American athletes, these outrageous comments make Sterling look like an absolute fool.
Sterling’s team, the Clippers, have an African-American coach in Doc Rivers, and over 10 of their players are also what Sterling would call ‘black’.
These players put their bodies on the line night in, night out while Sterling watches on and makes a bucket load of money in the process. I simply don’t understand how he thinks he can talk in this manner.
These actions by Sterling have put Chris Paul and the rest of his Clippers’ teammates in one of the toughest situations in recent NBA history.
Do they continue to play, knowing full well what their franchise owner thinks? Or, do they boycott and risk losing in the first round of the Playoffs?
There have been reports that the Clippers’ players had a meeting and mentioned boycotting the huge Game 4 against the Warriors.
For the sake of the Clippers’ fans, players and families, I hope they do play and let the NBA deal with their owner. The governing body have the authority to take the Clippers off Sterling, and released a statement saying they have launched a full investigation into the recording to get to the bottom of the issue.
If the man on the tape does turn out to be Sterling, I hope the NBA come down very hard on him. The NBA is one of the most multicultural professional sporting leagues in the world, and this certainly won’t change.
It’s people like Sterling who aren’t needed into today’s sporting landscape.
Build your own ultimate team! Pick your key players and take a shot at big cash prizes every day with Draftstars. For great odds on NBA games every day head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
A Serbian, a Canadian, a Slovenian and a Greek fellow walked into a bar … Well, they’ve actually walked into the NBA and now…
Nikola Jokic has scored 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead defending NBA champions Denver past LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers…
There will undoubtedly be upset results here and there in the NBA playoffs but there’s an overwhelming sense of fait accompli that Boston will…
LeBron James is going back to the Olympics for the first time in 12 years. Steph Curry is headed to the games for the…
The only realistic threat to Boston’s chances of strolling through the Eastern Conference is a team that could still end up in the play-in…
Australian guards Dante Exum and Josh Giddey have both come up big for their NBA clubs in crucial wins in the lead-in to the…
