[NBA Gossip] Donald Sterling Hates the Blacks, Including Magic

Rape ≥ Racism still.

 

The NBA doesn't even have to force Sterling to sell. The main 3 clipper players and coach can simply quit in the offseason. This would either force Sterling to void they're contracts to attain cap space to acquire more players or simply devalue his asset too much as the product on the court would be awful.

And, I don't think they'd really be sacrificing much. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Deandre Jordan would easily get another contract of similar value. Worst case scenario, Sterling calls their bluff and doesn't void their contract and fields a dleague team for the next few years. His brand would be destroyed.

I can almost guarantee Sterling will sell...eventually.

 

Can we agree that both are equally abhorrent in their own unique way?

 

CP3 and Blake sure, I don't think Deandre Jorden can get the same contract he is getting now, I would not pay that much for a dunker who only hits 40% fts.

 

Obviously. But you don't hear NBA players calling for their fellow players to be banned from the league when they commit any of the terrible things they do.

None of this is about Sterling being right or less of a scumbag, it's a frustration that the righteousness of the media and players seems to only come out now that an owner is a racist.

Take Barkley for instance. He has been a pretty big problem for a lot of people, ruining lives all long the way. He's had teammates on multiple teams want him out, he's been arrested, involved in domestic violence, gambling issues, consistently involved in fights...nobody says there is no place for him in the NBA though.

 

They can't just quit and then sign somewhere else. If they refuse to play then Sterling wouldn't have to pay them and they couldn't sign anywhere else.

I promise you the players aren't walking away from millions over this.

 

What terrible things do NBA players do? Smoke weed?

 

yup.. agreed

$$$$ > whatever integrity or values you think u have. There is a price for everything

 

No, give me a break. I don't mean all NBA players by the way.

Barkley has had some pretty serious issues in both his playing career and post playing career. Shaq has had serious issue. Kobe has had serious issues. Prostitution, rape, domestic assault, killing people while drunk driving, dog fighting rings, shootouts at strip clubs, etc. etc. These are all things done by professional athletes. When they happen, there is never a furor from their fellow athletes that they "have no place in the league."

 

The other players don't WORK for Barkley. You can look at Barkley and say he's a douche, or an idiot, or what may you. However he's still an employee and has no power over their lives.

Kobe doesn't employ others either, and the rape charges never resulted in a conviction. Had he been convicted, I have no doubt the NBA and other players would have been forced to respond.

As for Donald Sterling and the Clippers, the problem is that he's in a position of power. He hires minority athletes. Many of his customers are minority customers. He 100% represents his entire organization. And as a representative of the Team, he also represents the entire NBA.

While you can say that Kobe is an ambassador of the NBA, he does not represent the NBA in the same way the Owner represents their team, and thus are always going to be held to a different standard.

It's like differentiating between a soldier that commits a crime and when the Secretary of Defense commits a crime. One represents the USA, the other REPRESENTS the USA and thus are held to different standards of conflict.

 

I think torocan is right.

If there is a will in league-wide ownership, they can tell him to sell his team or they will kick his team out of the league. They'd probably keep it secret so he won't have to negotiate the sale price under duress. And, if he was stubborn about it, he could refuse and then sue them to prevent getting kicked out. But, in any case, I'm confident they do have the power to effectively force him to sell if they have the balls to do it.

I agree that owners probably don't use the nuclear option lightly because they're worried that it could always be used on them at some point. But, I think Sterling's case is unique enough that they don't need to worry that their own sins are comparable. Sterling has a long and proven track record of being a terrible human being, embarassing the league on multiple occassions. And now he's put the league in a very awkward position where inaction will be seen as complicity. A constellation of the league's biggest stars and even the POTUS has criticized him. And, he's handicapped the competitiveness of his own team. Other owners aren't looking at Sterling and thinking 'that could have been me!'

No way. The Clippers have the best deal in the league. They're never relocating. They're in a huge market and split their arena costs 50/50. Seattle can't compete with that.

 

I agree owning them in LA versus owning them in Seattle is clear.

But if some dude in Lubbock wants to buy a yacht, the free market kind of allows that, if the price is right.
(yes, I know it's more complicated than that.)

It will be interesting to see how the Clippers "brand", which was now just barely coming up about "absolute garbage", can or cannot recover from being associated with Sterling's image and comments.

 

I agree with your points. No players wanted him out of the game though when he was hiring prostitutes. Everyone's fine with Michael Jordan being an owner despite his personal problems.

Further, has he discriminated against players in anyway? If so, boom, go after him. If they are just his personal beliefs and they don't impact the running of the franchise in anyway, then they are just as bad as any of the other personal demons that owners and players deal with that are accepted.

 

Anyone thinking the league can pressure Sterling to sell obviously isn't considering who they are talking about. Sterling doesn't care if people don't come to the games. He doesn't care about sponsor dollars. He doesn't care about the league being pissed at him. He doesn't care about fighting the league in court. He bought the team for $12M. This is his side hustle. If they try to force him to sell he will fight and probably win. I don't see how you can force a sale based on privately recorded conversations.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kia, CarMax, Virgin America, and State Farm have all pulled sponsorship support of the Clippers. <a href="http://t.co/qN7mnPZyKq">http://t.co/qN7mnPZyKq</a></p>&mdash; Matt Moore CBS (@MattMooreCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattMooreCBS/statuses/460836520711032832">April 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Wow KIA ads pulled; what is Blake Griffin to do now?

 

They can't just quit and play somewhere else without Sterling waiving them. If they all quit it would make the most financial sense for Sterling to waive them to free up cap space to sign other players. Otherwise he could only field a team of mediocre role players and d league players.

 

does that mean Clifford Paul is dead?

 

There's always something positive that comes out of situations like this.

 

At least he probably was insured against job loss.