ESPN.com legal analyst Lester Munson is one of the few who’s been given access to the NBA’s constitution, and he interprets the document to give commissioner Adam Silver the power to force Donald Sterling out with the consent of three-fourths of the other owners. Munson appears to suggest that it would require the termination of the Clippers franchise, noting that it would be a drastic step. Still, Munson asserts that Sterling would have no effective legal recourse to appeal the NBA’s decision, so the NBA has leverage if the league wants him out at all costs, Munson believes. More out of L.A..
- Team player reps will have a conference call tonight to discuss Sterling, tweets Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram.
- Two-thirds of the league’s owners would be required to start the process to remove Sterling as an owner and 15 owners have already gone on the record blasting him, notes Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
- It’s time for the NBA to bounce Sterling, opines David Aldridge of NBA.com. The handling of this situation will shape Silver’s legacy, even though he’s only a couple of months into his tenure. Aldridge goes on to tell the story of his first interaction with the Clippers owner and while it’s unsettling, it’s consistent with what we heard from the leaked audio.
- Where does the league go from here? Ken Berger of CBSSports.com has a question and answer session to explain how things might play out.
- Head coach Doc Rivers released a statement this evening that was published on the Clippers’ website. Several team execs and owners followed suit and released statements of their own before the tip of tonight’s game between the Clippers and Warriors.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
I don’t doubt that the league will fine and suspend Donald Sterling, assuming they can authenticate that the tape is his voice. As well he should be; he’s done irreparable damage to his own brand with these statements, and even if he stands on the grounds of “tape acquired illegally”, he’s going to have a hell of a hard time convincing employees to stay and/or come on board as the head of anything to do with the Clippers.
Like Mark Cuban, I’m really on-edge with the possibility of the owners terminating his franchise or the owners forcing the sale of the Clippers. Link: link to espn.go.com…. I mean, when Chick Fil-A was caught making insensitive LGBT comments, they weren’t forced to close locations or give up locations to KFC (yes, I know the analogy isn’t perfect, but it’s close; CFA was not forced to sell assets over garbage comments).
But ultimately, Sterling has to go. The Clippers franchise will implode if he has any hand in it…witness people like Doc Rivers saying he’s not sure he’ll be back next year, and I’m sure he’s not alone…but I’m not sure if Sterling will try to burn the franchise to the ground in the process of being divested from the franchise. I’m just hopeful that he can be surgically removed from the league without killing the Clippers in the process.