The NBA completed its investigation on Monday night, and determined that Sterling did make the remarks on the leaked audio tape.
Adam Silver said Sterling is banned for life from any NBA activities.
Silver will urge the league's owners to vote for a forced sale of the Clippers, but for now Sterling is still the franchise's owner.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA "for life" and said he will urge the NBA's other owners to vote for a forced sale of the team.
Silver issued his much-anticipated declaration at a press conference about the findings of the NBA's investigation into a leaked audio recording in which a voice identified as Sterling's makes a string of racist remarks. Silver said Sterling admitted to him that the voice on the tape is, in fact, his.
A stream of sponsors fled the Clippers after Sterling's racist comments were publicized, while celebrities and star players alike have called for Sterling to sell his team.
Sterling has dominated the news cycle sports and non-sports alike since TMZ first released the recordings on Friday night, and Silver was under considerable public pressure to act quickly, decisively and severely.
Sterling has been known for incendiary remarks and disinterest as a franchise owner among NBA fans for years, but audio recordings released last weekend thrust his character and racial attitudes into the mainstream. On the leaked recording, a voice attributed to Sterling harangues someone purported to be Sterling's girlfriend about her associations with African Americans including NBA legend Magic Johnson, and tells her not to bring them to Clippers games.
The spectacle of Sterling's controversial comments and how they would be dealt with by the league could he be the first NBA owner forced to sell his team? Have captured the imagination and indignation of many. Here was the scene before Silver's Tuesday afternoon press conference in New York City:
Cameras on cameras on cameras on cameras here at this press conference pic.twitter.com/j77yq9UpLi
— adam figman (@afigman) 29 April 2014
Spike Lee nabbed a second-row seat:
View from the podium where Adam Silver will stand 20 minutes from now pic.twitter.com/Ct6CLSb5xh
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) 29 April 2014
The scene, according to this description from Bleacher Report's Howard Beck, seemed to epitomize the term "media circus":
Reporters with iPhones taking photos of photographers, who are taking photos of reporters, while TV cameras capture it all. #media
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) 29 April 2014
Silver took the podium at 2:14 p.m. ET. He said the NBA interviewed Sterling as part of its investigation and determined the voice on the leaked recordings to be Sterling's.
Silver banned Sterling for life from any association with the NBA or Clippers. That means no involvement with the team on any level, and being barred from NBA owners' meetings and other activities. Silver also fined Sterling $2.5 million, which he called the "maximum amount allowed" under league rules.
As for Sterling's ownership of the Clippers, Silver said he would do everything in his power to get the league's owners to vote to force Sterling into a sale of the Clippers. ESPN reported before the press conference that a forced sale would require 22 of the league's 30 owners to vote for a forced sale.
Meanwhile, the Clippers used their homepage to make a powerful statement on Tuesday:
http://t.co/8BKAVVgPqM homepage right now. Nice. pic.twitter.com/LI7p1XXnE9
— Sam Laird (@samcmlaird) 29 April 2014
Magic Johnson, mentioned as persona non grata at Clippers games in the audio recording that earned Sterling his lifetime ban, tweeted his support for a forced sale of the Clippers, referencing the coming vote from league owners in this tweet:
Now let's hope that the other 29 owners do the right thing.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) 29 April 2014
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who was until this week the league's highest-profile owner, tweeted his support for Silver's response to Sterling's comments:
I agree 100% with Commissioner Silvers findings and the actions taken against Donald Sterling
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) 29 April 2014
Silver took over from David Stern as NBA commissioner on Feb. 1 of this year, and most think he passed his first big test with flying colors so far. If you want to learn more about who Silver is and where he came from these two profiles from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are good reading.
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