Adam Silver is going to face many tough choices during his time as NBA Commissioner.
What to do about Donald Sterling is not one of them.
If the NBA finds it was, indeed, the Los Angeles Clippers' owner making racist and offensive comments on a recording obtained by TMZ, Silver should ban Sterling immediately. And permanently.
Silver may not be able to force Sterling to sell the Clippers. But he can – and should – make it clear that Sterling and his reprehensible beliefs are no longer welcome in the NBA. If the new commissioner doesn't have the stomach to do that, then the other 29 owners must step up. There's no place in the NBA for someone as ignorant and hateful as Sterling, and his continued presence will taint the entire league.
STERLING: NBA investigating if owner made racist comments
In the nearly 10-minute recording, posted on TMZ's website late Friday night, a man chastises his girlfriend for posting pictures with Magic Johnson and other minorities on Instagram. He also tells her not to bring the Lakers Hall of Famer to Clippers games.
"Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to promo, broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to?" the man said.
Never mind that the woman herself is a minority.
The NBA isn't throwing Sterling under the bus yet, though it has promised a "full investigation." Silver was scheduled to address the matter Saturday night. As for Sterling, his silence Saturday spoke volumes.
Frankly, it never should have come to this. The NBA should have distanced itself from Sterling and his toxic views long ago.
He's been sued twice by the U.S. Department of Justice for discriminatory rental practices, paying a then-record $2.73 million penalty to settle the second case. Former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor described Sterling as having a "plantation mentality" during his unsuccessful age discrimination lawsuit, recounting conversations with his former boss that were, at best, racially insensitive.
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What makes the latest vitriol particularly reprehensible is that the NBA has become the model for diversity in men's professional sports. It consistently gets the highest grades on the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport's Racial and Gender Report Card, and former commissioner David Stern last year was hailed for embracing "the moral imperative for diversity."
According to the institute's most recent report card, from last season, 81% of NBA players were people of color and more than three-quarters were African-American. Of the league's head coaches, 43.3% were African-American, the second-highest percentage in NBA history.
(It's worth noting the Clippers current head coach, Doc Rivers, is African-American.)
No doubt Stern is seething at seeing his legacy tarnished. And you can bet he was especially incensed that Johnson, Stern's dear friend who has become the role model for life after the NBA, has been dragged into the cesspool.
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"LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA," Johnson said on Twitter, adding that he would not attend another Clippers game as long as Sterling was the owner.
It's naïve to think racism doesn't still exist in the United States, even among wealthy team owners. But that doesn't make it right, and it certainly doesn't mean the NBA should tolerate a neanderthal like Sterling.
If Sterling doesn't want to associate with minorities, Silver ought to grant his wish: Bar him from the NBA. For good.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2014/04/26/adam-silver-commissioner-ban-cliippers-owner-donald-sterling/8216803/
