Racism in the NBA: The Donald Sterling Scandal
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has become one of the most prominent sports leagues in the world, but its successes have also brought a share of controversies. One of the controversies that ended up changing the course of the league was related to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
Donald Sterling, a trial lawyer and businessman, made most of his fortune through investing in apartments in Los Angeles. He had previously been accused of housing discrimination as well, a claim that he repeatedly denied. He was also the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, a franchise that was on the rise with stars such as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
The controversy began when rumors around the team began surfacing about Sterling’s alleged racism towards players in the LA Clippers franchise. In early 2014, a leaked audio recording revealed Sterling ranting about his ex-girlfriend’s friendship with Magic Johnson and other Black members of the NBA. There was evidence of multiple racist remarks against players as well, with Sterling exclaiming,
In the recording, Sterling also asserted,
“Don’t bring any Black people to my games.”
These statements, along with many other racist comments left many members of the NBA furious, which led to a massive league-wide boycott of playing NBA games that season. Stars of the community such as LeBron James stated on the issue,
Magic Johnson, another well-known star around the NBA, spoke out about the recording:
"I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner.”
With the players speaking about the issue and whole teams boycotting games, the NBA was on the verge of shutting down completely, which was at the time unprecedented. For example, the Clippers players were protesting Donald Sterling during their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, similarly to how the Milwaukee Bucks kneeled to protest violence towards African Americans in the 2020 Orlando NBA bubble.
Most of the pressure revolving around the issue fell into the hands of the new NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, who had to deal with the league almost shutting down due to the large amounts of protests that were happening in order to demand the removal of Sterling from the NBA team ownership position.
Silver eventually announced that Sterling would be banned from the NBA, and forced to sell the franchise. He was also fined $2.5 million, the result of a 75 percent approval vote by the NBA Board of Governors who are the chairmen who make most of the decisions for the NBA. Silver’s monumental decision ended up positively impacting the rest of his legacy in the NBA, and he is still the commissioner as of 2022.
The Clippers were ultimately not punished, with the result only being the fine and ban as aforementioned. Once Sterling sold the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, the association and players were able to once again focus on the playoffs that everyone was looking forward to.
As of 2022, the LA Clippers franchise is still continuing to grow in success, and its fans can thank Adam Silver and the NBA Board of Directors for this one.
