NBA: Where Donald Sterling happens

 

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”- Michelangelo

After initially being really reticent to write about the topic, here’s 2000 words (during finals season and bar application time). #GTGTPWTW. If you’re familiar with the facts of the story, skip to the last header where I give my thoughts.

 

Who is Donald Sterling?

Donald Sterling is a law school graduate, a real estate magnate and the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He is the longest tenured owner of the NBA. He’s married with 3 kids.

 

Why is Donald Sterling all over my Twitter and Facebook feeds?

Mr. Sterling purportedly made racist remarks. His girlfriend (yes, even though he’s married, he has one) submitted audio with Donald Sterling making these remarks in response to an Instagram photo she took with Magic Johnson.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30)
"You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15)
"I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45)
"...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." (9:13)

http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/26/donald-sterling-clippers-owner-black-people-racist-audio-magic-johnson/#ixzz307r5RY5x

Why is this a big deal?

Well, he’s the owner of an NBA team. He’s a public face of the league. It’s a blight on the league to have one of its representatives saying things like this. Also, more than any other sports league, the players in the NBA (and on the LA Clippers) are predominantly black. While this would be inappropriate anywhere, it’s even more inappropriate here. Also, the team plays in Los Angeles, a city well known for its diversity. Finally, rules of common decency apply here.

Racism, is largely a matter of interpretation for some people. Someone stereotypes, or says something offensive and that thing is explained away in one form or another. Sometimes there’s a logical way to frame a comment or action that people interpret as racist as not racist. It defies logic to interpret “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” as anything but racist. This is one of the few times where truly blatant racism is exposed in a public light.

 

You said purportedly, does that mean that he might not have said it?

Yes, it does. Donald Sterling (through his representatives) denies having said it. It’s technically still an accusation (with a public audio recording). Armchair voice recording experts can analyze it as much as they want, but there’s still a question as to whether it is actually him.

“We have heard the tape on TMZ Sports.  We do not know if it is legitimate or if it has been altered… Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life…He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them." – Clippers via TMZ

 

Wait, isn’t recording someone’s conversations illegal?

***This is ABSOLUTELY not legal advice***

Sort of, but it depends on the state. Some states have a two party recording statute and others have a one party recording statute. Put simply, some places have laws where you can only record a conversation is both parties are aware that recording is happening and other states have laws where you can only record a conversation if one party is aware. California requires both parties to be aware. It’s unclear where the recording happened and it’s unclear to me if there is a potential problem for the girlfriend.
***This wasn’t legal advice. If you need or want legal advice please talk to a lawyer who with bar credentials in the jurisdiction that you require***

On the other hand there is an argument to be made about the general wisdom and shaky morality of recording private conversations and releasing them to the public. I appreciate privacy and I’d feel betrayed if any of my private conversations were recorded and made public. However, the things that he said were remarkably vile and unbecoming of an owner whether said in public or in private. This is different from Toronto GM Masai Ujiri yelling “Fuck Brooklyn”, which was only bad because it was in a public forum. These statements reveal a truly ugly sentiment by Sterling about black people, generally. It should not be tolerated.

 

What has the league’s response been?

Nothing much yet. There is an investigation.

"We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ. The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information." – NBA via SBNation.com

Donald Sterling has volunteered not to attend game 4.

 

What has the media response been?

Not surprisingly, everyone is condemning Sterling’s statements. ESPN and TNT (the premiere television partners for the NBA) have both been clear about their feelings about Sterling and swift in their condemnation.

“Will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner” “LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA.” “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” – Magic Johnson (Former NBA Player, person in the Instagram picture in question)

 

What do players think?

“"On behalf of the National Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively” – Chris Paul (star player for the Clippers and the president of the NBA Players association)

“That's the way it is...He is honest about what he believes in..Been going on for a long time, Hats off 2 the Team.. 4 playin above it all.” – Baron Davis (former Clipper, heckled from the sidelines by Sterling)

DeAndre Jordan (Clippers center) posted an all-black picture on Instagram, sending a not particularly subtle message.

“I couldn't play for him” – Kobe Bryant via Twitter (Lakers player, shares the same arena as the Clippers, wins a lot more)

"Obviously, if the reports are true... It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable in our league. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, Hispanic, whatever, all across the races. It's unacceptable. And as a commissioner of our league, you have to make a stand and you have to be very aggressive with it. I don't know what it's gonna be, but you just can't have that in our league."- LeBron James via Bleacher Report (Miami Heat player, arguably the face of the NBA)

“"There's no place in the game for things like this, for owners like this." – Paul Pierce (Brooklyn Nets player) via Twitter

 

He seems like a jerk who no one likes. Why is he still in the league? Can he be fired?

No. Not really. As the owner of the team, he’s the boss. Other owners and the general administration of the NBA can put pressure on him to sell the team, but it doesn’t appear that they can outright fire him. According to Sports Illustrated,

“Forcibly removing Sterling from the NBA is unlikely to happen. The NBA's constitution, which is confidential, reportedly contains language permitting owners to authorize the league to sell a team without an owner's consent. The language, SI.com is told, only covers very limited circumstances and these circumstances concern team finances -- namely, when an owner can't pay his bills.”

So, generally speaking, as long as Sterling’s checks don’t bounce, it would be difficult to take away his franchise. There are other ways of impeding Sterling, such as indefinite suspension and other public shaming mechanisms, but Sterling could fire back with a lawsuit. Lawsuits face the potential of treble damages, a legal mechanism that means that if Sterling sues, he could get triple the amount of damage done to him. It does not appear likely that the NBA is willing to do this. (No defendant wants anything to do with treble damages, as I’ve learned in my semester long venture into civil law).

If the NBA desired to suspend him there’s a good chance that they already would have done so, already. He has already been involved in various discrimination lawsuits alleging racism. There are many racist quotes attributed to Sterling. He’s heckled his own players from the sidelines. He’s generally been regarded as an awful owner outside of any potentially racist comments.

 

Ok, so I know the facts, how do you feel about it?

I’m against racism and bigotry in all its forms. The league would be a better place without Donald Sterling in it. I don’t think that he’s the only person in sports who feels this way, but he has such a horrid history of bigotry that he has to go. Not a single tear will be shed for Sterling on the way out.

When people want to use this story as a discussion piece about race, I’m confused. What’s the discussion? Don’t be a racist? Sure, but then what? It’s very surface level and doesn’t have any depth to it. I think that, at best, we have another example of how despite all of the progress made, racism is still alive and well.

I think the more interesting angle here is the player and coach reaction. Doc Rivers forced his way out of Boston to work in Los Angeles. Now he’s a black head coach working for an owner who doesn’t particularly like black people. Chris Paul was supposed to be a Laker, but after former Commissioner David Stern vetoed a potential trade from New Orleans to the Lakers, he was traded to the Clippers. I feel bad for Chris Paul who shouldn’t even be on the team. Doc Rivers, not as much. It is clear to me that either this isn’t that big of a deal to him or he’s willing to work for someone who feels this way because that was clear before he signed to LA.

More importantly, the players are in a bad spot. The players are clearly not happy with Sterling’s remarks, but Sterling, with all of his millions, signs their paychecks. He’s the boss and financier. The players protested  by throwing their Clippers branded warm ups on the ground at half court in Sunday’s game. However, when the national TV cameras were on, they were wearing their Clippers uniforms, because, at the risk of lawsuit (and certainly some NBA league-wide policy about uniforms) they had to. They don’t have a lot of leverage or power to protest, especially since they are in a tough series against the Golden State Warriors, who wiped the floor with them on Sunday. They can seek trades and sign with other teams, but most of the core pieces are contractually stuck with the Clippers. Also, there are tons of Clippers fans who’ve already bought tickets whom the players don’t want to disappoint. The fans didn’t do anything to deserve a strike. (Although, if I’m a clipper fan, I’ve bought my last ticket.) If they wanted to protest one game, that would be one thing, but right now, the Clippers are a potential NBA finals team. Why would they want to miss out on one of the highlights of their professional lives because the owner was a jerk? That has nothing to do with them.

I think that the NBA’s response is going to be interesting. This is the first major test of new commissioner Adam Silver’s tenure. On one hand, it’s going to be an uphill battle to remove Sterling and may cost the league a ton of money to do so. While it is good for the long-term health of the league, it may be costly for the NBA to get rid of him. The NBA is a business, first. Of course there are other ways to for him to leave the NBA. The NBA could wait and hope that Donald Sterling ceases to be the owner of the team, either by old age (he’s in his 80’s) or by Sterling selling the team. If there’s one thing that’s clear, Sterling won’t sell the Clippers because it’s “the right thing to do”. The NBA also must give Sterling his due process before anything continues. While they aren’t obligated to do so in the same way that the government is (see 14^th Amendment), they have to investigate, especially since the remarks were made via audio recording and could have been doctored. While the sentiments expressed in the audio are similar to sentiments previously expressed by and attributed to Sterling, it doesn’t mean that Sterling actually made them, and if they remove him based on a mistaken identity or doctored audio, it makes it more likely they will lose the inevitable law suit. However, if something meaningful is going to happen, it ought to be the league that does it.