Thirty-two years before Adam Silver issued a lifetime ban to Clippers owner Donald Sterling, it has come to light that the NBA once tried to oust Sterling early in his tenure as an owner. Coincidentally, his near-banning was the result of an audio recording. From the Los Angeles Times:
A special committee of six NBA owners unanimously recommended Sterling’s removal in September 1982. Created after Sterling’s aborted attempt to relocate the franchise from San Diego to Los Angeles, the committee grew concerned about late payments by the Clippers to players, hotels, program printers and others. The NBA had previously sued Sterling to block that move.
In addition to those concerns, a recording made at a team luncheon didn’t sit well with other owners, and the league fined him $10,000:
According to stories in The Times detailing the matter, the special committee focused on comments Sterling made to a luncheon earlier that year insisting the Clippers needed to finish last so they could draft a player like Ralph Sampson.
Sounds like the guy was an early adapter of the concept of tanking. Anyway, Times columnist Randy Harvey implies there was almost immediate regret over accepting Sterling into their fraternity:
“The owners seem shocked he did not turn out to be the real thing. Perhaps they will scratch the surface the next time they need a new owner.”
Sterling said his comments on the recording were “misunderstood”, but once he realized expulsion was on the table, he told the league he was shopping the team. Once he made that declaration, the fervor died down, and the issue quietly went away.
In short, it only took one season of Donald Sterling as an NBA owner for all the other owners to realize he was a sleazebag — and actively tried to remove him. Even more unbelievable was a comment from then NBA President David Stern just months later (you know, after the owners had voted for his expulsion), referring to the Clippers’ organization as “first class”. Sterling’s stench managed to fester for only a scant 32 more years before another audio recording finally signaled the end.
[LATimes]
