In a predicament that could have divided the NBA ‘family’ we’ve heard so much about over the last few days, Adam Silver acted swiftly and sternly in banning Donald Sterling from the NBA for life and fining the billionaire the maximum allowable amount - $2.5 million - under the NBA constitution, which will go toward anti-discrimination organizations.
In addition, Silver announced that he will urge league owners to exercise their authority to force the sale of the Clippers, of which the board of governors will need a three-quarters majority vote.
In a separate press conference on the steps of Los Angeles’ city hall that included Kevin Johnson, L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steve Nash and others, Players Association vice president Roger Mason noted that the players are not wholly satisfied yet, asking the board of governors to take action on the voting process to remove Sterling as an owner as soon as possible. But Johnson and others reiterated that they are pleased with Silver’s handling of the case, adding that the new commissioner is not only the owners’ commissioner, but also the players’ commissioner, and one they are proud to call their commissioner.
In initiating the process of removing Sterling’s wretched presence from the Association, Silver not only fulfilled a public demand and moral standard, but also fulfilled his duties as overseer of the NBA, keeping the league united on all fronts.
Had Silver taken too long for the player’s liking, or worse, had he not come down as hard as he did on Sterling, the NBA would be facing a crisis the likes of which no lockout can compare. Major sponsors had already pulled their support of the Clippers, players beyond the borders of L.A. were prepared to boycott games, and the future of the Clippers franchise in general would have been in peril, with current players, future free agents and even powerful NBA figures like coach Doc Rivers likely wanting no part of the organization.
The specter of Sterling’s vitriol will hang over these playoffs — and there may still be backlash to come for any owners who don’t vote in favor of forcefully removing Sterling — but in at least initiating the process of moving forward, Silver has allowed players, fans and all involved in the aforementioned NBA family to focus on the thrilling basketball we’ve been spoiled with over the last week and a half. Even questions about the future of the Clippers from an ownership perspective, while potentially distracting from the basketball at hand, will at least be a question of moving on and progress.
In the wake of such scandals, you would hope that those involved can take something from what’s transpired. Players may be more likely to place greater trust in Commissioner Silver, Silver and the league’s owners may be more inclined to seek out the players’ opinions in the future, and as Kevin Johnson noted, the hope, as naïve as it might be, would be that bigots see what’s happened to Sterling and realize that “if he can fall, so can you.”
But the real lesson to be learned here is that the NBA — or any league for that matter — shouldn’t wait until an owner, player or any league representative has his discriminatory behavior cross over to the playing field before taking action. In this instance, it took a recorded conversation where Sterling discouraged his girlfriend from taking African Americans to “his games,” among other disgusting comments stemming from V. Stiviano posting a photo with Magic Johnson to Instagram. But Sterling has been at the center of discriminatory scandals in the past that went far beyond the damage words alone can inflict.
Would it have been difficult for David Stern and Adam Silver to secure the support of two-thirds of NBA owners when Sterling was sued by the federal government for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to African Americans, Hispanics and families with children?
Could players not have made a grand statement and taken a stand when Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor accused Sterling of running the Clippers with a “plantation mentality?”
Could free agents and coaches not have taken their talents elsewhere and committed to do so in unity until Sterling was forced out of the league?
Could fans in L.A. not have boycotted Clippers games?
Could the rest of the Clippers organization not have ‘been one’ then? And if not, why?
Why did Doc Rivers believe, just last summer, that it was “different now” in Sterling’s organization when we now know the same bigoted spirit still exists inside the 80-year-old?
At the players’ press conference in L.A., Steve Nash said that he hopes “this is an opportunity for all of us as players, former players, as a league, as a community to help educate and help take one step further to eradicating racism in our communities,” adding that “it’s a really proud day for all of us players and for our league.”
Again, the swift action of commissioner Silver (and hopefully the owners), the unity of the players and the support of the fans over the last few days is encouraging, and Tuesday’s decision can act as the type of progressive, educational step Nash envisions.
But as long as all of those people are now asking questions about how to move forward and basking in the change their coming together has wrought, they should also be asking why it came to this, how their lack of action in the past allowed it to get this far, and how they can ensure it never happens again.
Diving into those questions would also help educate and help take one step further to eradicating racism in our communities.
