According to Sports Illustrated, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling refuses to pay $2.5 million fine and plans to file a lawsuit against the NBA. A person with knowledge of this situation said Sterling’s lawyer Maxwell Bleacher wrote a letter to the NBA stating that Sterling had not done anything wrong and he would not pay fine.
Following the recent investigation of an alleged recording where Sterling was heard making racist remarks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned the owner for life and suggested that other NBA team owners to use their power to force Sterling to sell his team. The NBA needs a three-fourths vote from other owners to force the sale of the team.
Rochelle Sterling, the co-owner of the Clippers and the wife of Sterling, publicly stated in CNN interview last week Monday that she had not done anything wrong. If the NBA decides to terminate her, her lawyer Pierce O’Donnell vowed that she would do anything in her power to sue the NBA.
League spokesman Mike Bass said, “It doesn’t matter whether the owners are related. There are rules to which all NBA owners agree to as a condition of owning their team.”
During the interview with the CNN, Sterling admitted that he made a terrible mistake for making racist remarks regarding African-Americans and he apologized. He hopes and ask for forgiveness, but apparently his apology is not a good enough for American society. In fact, it was not the first time for the people to hear that Sterling has a race issue.
The NBA deems it absolutely unethical for Sterling to make a racist remark, specifically toward African Americans such as the NBA legend Magic Johnson. Although well-known lawyer Bleacher intends to convince the judge that Sterling had not done anything to harbor such penalties, the general public continues to support Silver for the effort to terminate him for a lifetime.
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