Column: Time for the NBA to oust Donald Sterling

But perhaps Griffin’s most impressive accomplishment thus far is how he has rejuvenated the moribund Los Angeles Clippers. Up until this year, the Clippers were known for three things: losing, spectacularly inept front office decisions, and having a cheap, allegedly racist owner who is an embarrassment to the NBA.

So you haven’t heard of Donald T. Sterling? Here’s a short introduction to the worst owner in North American professional sports (yes, he’s even worse than the corpse of Al Davis):

Sterling is a self-made man who bought properties in Los Angeles in the 1960s when they were cheap and holds onto them to this day while reaping the benefits of the massive upswing in the City of Angels. After construction work caused major leaks in one of his buildings, ruining the possessions of many tenants, Sterling showed no compassion. In one particularly disturbing story, one of those tenants, an elderly, legally blind African-American woman, asked to be reimbursed for the damages. In response, Sterling reportedly told assistants to “just evict the bitch,” asking if she was one of the African-American people “that stink.” At another point, Sterling told companions that Mexicans in his buildings “just sit around and smoke and drink all day” and that African-Americans “smell.” In an unrelated story, NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor, one of the first African-Americans to play in the NBA, and who served as the Clippers’ general manager for 22 years, is now suing Sterling for wrongful termination due to racism.

And it’s not like he’s been a good owner, either. Under his leadership, the Clippers have had just three winning seasons, advancing only once to the second round of the playoffs. A 2000 Sports Illustrated feature detailed how Sterling, notoriously cheap, supposedly proposed cutting training camp budgets from $50,000 to around $100. In another well-known incident, he refused to pay the winner of a $1,000 free throw contest for local lawyers and real estate agents. Bizarrely, the cheapest owner in the country even heckles his own players from the sideline, especially Baron Davis.

Sterling has become the Marge Schott of basketball, the bigoted owner who just will not go away. (Schott owned the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball until 1999. She was known for chain smoking, downing vodka in massive quantities, not knowing the names or faces of her players and saying such things like “[Hitler] was OK at the beginning ... he just went too far,” “Dave [Parker] is my million dollar [explitive]” and “Only fruits wear earrings.”) Rick Reilly detailed Schott’s terrible personality in a famous Sports Illustrated feature in 1996 that publicized the above quotes. As a result of Reilly’s article, Schott was banned from managing the Reds from 1996 to 1998. Shortly afterwards, she sold the team, dying in 2004.

Strangely, Sterling has escaped the vilification that Schott endured toward the end of her tenure, even though he probably deserves it. David Stern, the NBA commissioner, has been notably silent on Sterling’s many transgressions. He has been allowed to own the Clippers for far too long; while MLB did not do enough about Schott, they at least elbowed her out over a period of time. Now is the time for Stern to start that same process with Sterling, especially because the Clippers have a fun, young team. Sterling’s horrific record in all regards is probably the biggest black mark on Stern’s 25-year reign as commissioner.

Two of the same breed, Schott probably would have hated Sterling due to his Jewish ancestry. But like Schott was for MLB in 1990s, Sterling is a throwback to a time that the NBA should be trying to forget. For Blake Griffin’s sake, David Stern needs to get rid of Donald T. Sterling.