Adam Silver dropped the hammer.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has handed out the following punishment to Donald Sterling for his racist remarks.
- Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA
- Sterling is fined the maximum $2.5 million — in which the money will be used to help organizations against anti-discrimination
- The board of governors will force Sterling to sell the team
This was the harshest punishment and it was the right one. Sterling admitted that the voice in the recording is his and Silver says Sterling did not express anything else following.
The forced sale requires at least a 3/4 vote of approval to remove him. Silver says he expects the owners will remove Sterling. If sold, the team could be sold for close to $1 billion.
Silver also said he is not considering the idea of making all Clippers free agents at the end of the season. Of course, this is on the notion that Sterling would not be the owner of the team by then.
This is Silver’s first major decision with the NBA. This was a tough decision, but when presented with the facts, he made the only decision that had to be made. It would have been easier to ease up on the decision, but Silver knew he had to drop the hammer on Sterling.
The harsh punishment shows that Silver understands the importance of unity of the league. And when one man of such power represents something that can destroy the unity of the league, Silver made the perfect decision.
I applaud Silver for this. I believe he has established his mark on the NBA.
Now we will see how long this process will take to remove Sterling from the ownership role of the Clippers. I expect it to be soon and the NBA can move on without Sterling.
But at the end of the day... 
Wow. I’m not sure how I feel about this.
On the one hand, I agree that Sterling’s comments were profoundly ignorant and hateful. And I also agree that the NBA is a better league without him. On top of that, the Clippers will be much easier to root for under new ownership (fingers crossed they’re not somehow even worse than Donald!).
But I also feel like this all happened so fast and with such universal vitriol. It feels like Sterling became an easy target. Maybe this is just the straw that broke the camel’s back. And Sterling was already skating on thin ice. But in one clear way he is a victim here. His exGF broke the law to record and disseminate a private conversation. God knows, if someone secretly recorded me at my more shitty moments, I’d hate to be judged by them.