An NBA Advisory Committee meeting vote yesterday reportedly approved the termination of Donald Sterling’s ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. The members voted unanimously.
After the meeting, the NBA issued a statement by Mike Bass, the league’s Executive Vice President for Communications. “This afternoon the Advisory/Finance Committee met via conference call to discuss the process for termination of Donald T. Sterling’s ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers,” Bass said. “The Committee unanimously agreed to move forward as expeditiously as possible and will reconvene next week.”
This is yet one more step toward the league attempting to force Sterling to sell his team.
Sterling, heard on a recording saying he didn’t want his girlfriend to associate with black people in public or bring them to his games, has still not publicly responded to the growing situation and it is unknown how he will react to the mounting pressure for him to sell his team. He told reporter Jim Gray he had no intention of selling when informed of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s decision to ban him for life.
But it is not at all clear that anyone has the legal standing to force Sterling to sell the team and it has been noted that the owner has a long history of initiating and winning hard-fought court cases. It is quite possible he’ll fight this pressure to sell.
The NBA owners group also plans to meet about this incident and most expect the owners will also press for Sterling to sell his team.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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