maybe the front man.....

The owner of BET that was the former owner of the Bobcats has enough money. Magic Johnson is the 5th richest black person in the United States. There are other people out there that have the purchasing power to own the Clippers.

Just curious... I wonder if there is anything preventing Sterling from transferring ownership to one of his children or another relative. It appears the lifetime ban is for Donald Sterling only... not other members of his family.

is it a given that 3/4 of the owners will vote against Sterling?

a lot of them are rich old guys and a bit eccentric in their own right

If they're going to force him to sell it, they'd also have to vett and approve the buyer. So I doubt they'd allow the transfer since it would seem unlikely that he would not continue to have a say-so in the operations.

I loved that he got banned from attending anymore games. If I was him, I'd go to every Clippers road game for the next 10 years buying tickets from scalpers.

would the votes be made public?

There were some Grizzlies fans that were upset that Robert Pera had not come out and condemned Sterling.

Pera had only done 73 tweets in about the 16 months he's been on twitter, and is an active owner of his own corporation, so I thought this was way overdoing the (faux) anger for Pera not tweeting enough.


However, in saying that, what owner is actually going to vote against this?

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is it a given that 3/4 of the owners will vote against Sterling?

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Probably so.
I just can't see Silver coming down as hard as he did without covering his bases.
He has to already know that he has 75% of the votes in the bag.

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would the votes be made public?

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Wondered this as well. Have a feeling it would make a massive difference in the outcome since I can't imagine any owner would want to publicly appear racist.

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The NBA is a brand and it was being harmed by the negative press associated with this.

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Sterling's racist comments will have absolutely 0 negative impact on the NBA "brand." People cheer for teams and players, not owners.

Sterling may be an evil racist, but a lifetime ban is just ridiculous. Should let the market work it out over time. Watch free agents not sign with LAC. Watch sponsors drop out, Rivers walk away.

Pretty hypocritical of the NBA. Heck, Sprewell was let back in after choking his coach. Artest banned only a season after rushing the stands and attacking fans. Those type of actions are worse affronts to the "brand" than the racist views of an owner.

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However, in saying that, what owner is actually going to vote against this?

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I could see Cuban doing it only because he's already made comments in regards to the slippery slope created by forcing someone to sell a team.

Also, I agree that Doc Rivers has been overdoing this a bit.

Everything I've heard is that none of the owners are shocked that this happened to Sterling, nor was it any secret about all the lawsuits and civil trials the guy has been in.

But Doc was OK with Sterling denying minorities living in his real estate, but is outraged over Sterling's mistress recording racist comments.

There isn't one likable person in that Clippers organization (except for the Aggie, of course).

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This. Plus his comments could negatively affect 29 other owners. He's doing harm to the whole league and not just himself.

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Disagree. I don't think anyone associates his comments with the 29 other owners or the NBA. No one thinks the NBA is racist now. They think "That old piece of **** that everyone hates is a piece of ****."

Minnesota's owner did much worse for the reputation of the league when he agreed to an under the table contract with Joe Smith. He got a 1 year ban and lost 4 draft picks.

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would the votes be made public?

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My guess is Silver says "Vote to dissolve the team or I make the votes public."

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Sterling may be an evil racist, but a lifetime ban is just ridiculous.

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Excellent, excellent point about Artest. They guy went into the stands and started a riot and was banned for one year. Sterling gets set up and really does not say anything just "shoot him in the head" distasteful and he gets a lifetime ban and pressure is going to be placed on him to sell the team.

What exactly is being banned for life mean?

No games, no practices, no public appearances. Can he still essentially own the team but just have everyone else handle the business things and be hands off?

Just confused on what exactly lifetime ban means.

No owner would have the stones to vote to keep him. Even if he may personally believe that is proper (Cuban) the backlash would be unsurvivable. Cuban has already come out in support of the decision on Twitter.

Not saying what he did was right but Artest didn't 'start' anything. He did get the longest suspension of any player in league history for it though.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 4/29/2014 2:51p).]

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Sterling gets set up and really does not say anything just "shoot him in the head" distasteful

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BoxingAg:

You can do that as many times as you like. It brings nothing substantive to the discussion. If you have an opinion then state it.

Any fine expected for Larry Johnson

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Any fine expected for Larry Johnson

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His comment was horrible too but Larry Johnson isn't an owner, has no employees and has zero influence.
He's just a washed up ball player.

[This message has been edited by BoxingAg84 (edited 4/29/2014 3:03p).]

He works for the knicks

Good for the NBA, and good for Adam Silver.

That needed to be done. There's absolutely no room for that type of ignorant opinion in America, whatsoever.

Yes, it's 100% a harsh punishment. It was also 100% warranted. If you're part of a work place and you send an email or talk about racially sensitive material at work, you're subject to being fired. Same thing here. I'm so happy that there were no exceptions made, and instead, the NBA and America as a matter of fact, got a little bit better today.

Progress, it's all about progress.

You already know the answer to that Mr. Bond. It is because at this stage of the game the white culture is scarred to death of being branded as racist. We allow our culture to be ridiculed, even by liberal whites.

This country just refuses to have balance. We are either all one way or another. This thing should have blown over and the guy, once investigated, fined. They even could have done some back door maneuvering to get him to sell the team.

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Any fine expected for Larry Johnson

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Of course not. Nobody in the liberal media cares what Larry Johnson says.

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You already know the answer to that Mr. Bond. It is because at this stage of the game the white culture is scarred to death of being branded as racist. We allow our culture to be ridiculed, even by liberal whites.

This country just refuses to have balance. We are either all one way or another. This thing should have blown over and the guy, once investigated, fined. They even could have done some back door maneuvering to get him to sell the team.

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I agree completely I just felt obligated to bring it up

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is it a given that 3/4 of the owners will vote against Sterling

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I don't think it's a given about 3/4, but you can put down Leslie Alexander as a vote against.

Well, if they vote and he is retained then you have your answer.

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If you're part of a work place and you send an email or talk about racially sensitive material at work, you're subject to being fired. Same thing here.

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Except he didn't make the comments at work, idiot. He was being secretly recorded.

I'm pretty sure people aren't fired from their job for being illegally recorded in your own home. At least not last I checked.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 4/29/2014 3:13p).]

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Good for the NBA, and good for Adam Silver.

That needed to be done. There's absolutely no room for that type of ignorant opinion in America, whatsoever.

Yes, it's 100% a harsh punishment. It was also 100% warranted. If you're part of a work place and you send an email or talk about racially sensitive material at work, you're subject to being fired. Same thing here. I'm so happy that there were no exceptions made, and instead, the NBA and America as a matter of fact, got a little bit better today.

Progress, it's all about progress.

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Yes, it's 100% a harsh punishment. It was also 100% warranted. If you're part of a work place and you send an email or talk about racially sensitive material at work, you're subject to being fired. Same thing here. I'm so happy that there were no exceptions made, and instead, the NBA and America as a matter of fact, got a little bit better today.

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What if you're at home, talking about it privately to your girlfriend, and she secretly records you and potentially breaks the law by releasing the audio?

I don't know what the right punishment is, but you just gave an apples/oranges comparison.

*EDIT* Posted 2 above mine. That's what I get for responding as soon as I saw the post instead of reading the rest of the thread.

[This message has been edited by Bunk Moreland (edited 4/29/2014 3:16p).]

I think if the employee's conversation was released to a media outlet then they would be fired.

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Except he didn't make the comments at work, idiot. He was being secretly recorded.

I'm pretty sure people aren't fired from their job for being illegally recorded in your own home. At least not last I checked.

[This message has been edited by aggie_2001_2005 (edited 4/29/2014 3:12p).]

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Pretty sure you could be.

CEO of Mozilla got fired for a political contribution.

Sterling is part of a club. A club that makes billions putting on games that are played by 90% African Americans. The percentage of fans that are African American is probably higher than any other sport as well. He had to be gone ASAP. There is nothing unfair about a club following its own rules and looking out for the interests of its members.

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What if you're at home, talking about it privately to your girlfriend, and she secretly records you and potentially breaks the law by releasing the audio?

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This isn't the court of law, its the court of public opinion.
Sterling wasn't accused of a crime.