Piggybacking on ABC announcer and former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy’s suggestion on Sunday, Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said that though he did not think the NBA could boot Sterling from the league, the league could put pressure on him to sell the team by declaring that all of the Clippers can become free agents after the season.
“I thought that there’s got to be a way to disrupt him from owning the team,” said Alexander, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I gave him the sword to deal with this. I said, ‘Let the players become free agents.'”
He said he told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that he did not “think he can be removed because the constitution (of the NBA) only allows him to be removed except for gambling.”
“I’m not sure that legally can be done. But if he loses his players, nobody is going to want to go there. He’ll only be able to get a player that is worth $2 million and will play for $12 (million.) And who is going to want to coach there?” he said. “This kind of behavior can’t be allowed in the NBA by owners, players or anybody. This guy has no place in the family of the NBA. Whatever it takes, we have to make sure this kind of event never happens again.”
He continued: “If you’re a player in the NBA you don’t want to play for somebody like that. If you worked for a company, you would walk away and say, ‘I’m gone.” I think the players should have that right.”
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