BROOKLYN, N.Y.鈥擨t was never a secret. Sure, there were people in the NBA who didn鈥檛 know that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was a disgrace.
But if you weren鈥檛 oblivious, you knew. It was never a secret.
Then Sterling鈥檚 racism burbled up again , on a tape obtained by TMZ. After his girlfriend posted a picture of herself with Magic Johnson to Instagram, he told her he didn鈥檛 want her to be seen with black people, or to bring them to games, among other things. It was strange and pathetic, but it was nothing new.
Yet it caused a firestorm this time, for some reason. It was almost as if it was an excuse for the NBA to finally talk about it. It has always been among the NBA鈥檚 enduring and appalling shames that Sterling was allowed to remain as the owner of the Clippers without even a modest public rebuke from the league that helped to enrich him. He has a long and disgusting history, and there were no real consequences. The NBA did steer Chris Paul there in 2011, though. Terrific.
This time, though, it鈥檚 as if a gun went off in a theatre. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was forced to address the issue in a press conference in Memphis: he said Sterling should be afforded due process, and that there were no immediate sanctions. Silver called the audio 鈥渢ruly offensive and disturbing,鈥 and said he expected an investigation to last a few days. He said the NBA had a broad range of powers to discipline an owner, but that he hadn鈥檛 considered Sterling鈥檚 history yet.
He鈥檒l have to do better than that. Baseball twice suspended Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott for racist comments, and eventually pushed her out of baseball. That鈥檚 the bar here.
The reaction has been tidal. Rapper Snoop Dogg released a 15-second blast of Instagram profanity directed at Sterling鈥檚 racism. I showed the video to Raptors forward Chuck Hayes; Hayes spoke carefully and said, 鈥淲hat Snoop said, I鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 a lot of NBA players that feel that way.鈥
鈥淧olitical or not, I think it鈥檚 a moral issue. . . . I think there鈥檚 a responsibility to take with this,鈥 said Landry Fields. 鈥淚t will be telling to see what the NBA does.鈥
鈥淪ometimes there鈥檚 very successful people who are not good people,鈥 said Steve Novak, the team鈥檚 union rep. 鈥淕uys were talking about it on the bus over here, and guys are saying, more than anything, something has to be addressed, something has to be said.鈥
Things were said. San Antonio Spurs CEO Peter Holt noted it was 鈥渘ot the first go-round for (Sterling)鈥 to the San Antonio Express-News, and Miami Heat owner Mickey Arison issued a statement to Miami media calling Sterling鈥檚 comments 鈥渁ppalling, offensive and very sad.鈥
In Oakland, Golden State Warriors centre Jermaine O鈥橬eal told Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News that, 鈥淚 use this word with great respect, because there鈥檚 a lot of people that have committed themselves and their lives to changing how this word is used. . . . But it鈥檚 almost a slave mentality. Where you can go out and do all the work 鈥 you鈥檙e good enough to do all the work, make all the money for you 鈥 but just not good enough to sit at the table that you eat at.鈥
Clippers centre DeAndre Jordan tweeted a picture, all black; Kobe Bryant simply tweeted, 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 play for him.鈥 And in Miami, LeBron James delivered impassioned comments befitting his stature, telling reporters, 鈥淭here is no room for Donald Sterling in our league. There鈥檚 just no room for him.鈥
And yet, there has been room for Donald Sterling in the NBA since 1981. There was always room. There was room when he settled that federal housing discrimination lawsuit for a then-record $2.75 million (U.S.) in 2009, after he tried to evict both African-American and Hispanic tenants, along with families with children, from his rental properties; in depositions, he allegedly said black people smelled. He was sued for housing discrimination in 2003, too, and settled in 2006.
There were other stories. As Hayes put it, 鈥淚f you didn鈥檛 know, now you know.鈥
鈥(Clippers players) Chris Paul, Blake (Griffin), or DeAndre 鈥 they won鈥檛 be shocked,鈥 said Novak, who played for the Clippers from 2008-10. 鈥淧erhaps they might act shocked, but this is not something they don鈥檛 know.鈥 He made a salient point, after that.
鈥淕uys have known this, and at least recently, it hasn鈥檛 affected guys going there,鈥 said Novak. 鈥淚 think guys want to play basketball on a good team in a good city, and a lot of the time the owner has a lot to do with it. Maybe (it affected free-agent decisions) for the first 30 years when they were pretty unsuccessful, but . . . recently it doesn鈥檛 seem like they鈥檝e had a problem getting guys to go there.
鈥淎 lot of it has to do with winning, and they鈥檙e winning.鈥
We let winning determine so much in sports; we let it be an excuse for almost anything. NBA owners don鈥檛 even have that excuse, and they never held Donald Sterling accountable either; Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who has never been one to hold his tongue, was quoted Saturday as saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not my problem.鈥
That鈥檚 been the line, all right. Donald Sterling has always been everyone鈥檚 problem, and nobody even pretended to solve it.
Well, now鈥檚 the time.
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