NBA bans Clippers owner from game for life over racist comments

  • 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

The National Basketball Association banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the game for life and fined him $2.5 million for racist comments made public over the weekend, the league's commissioner said on Tuesday.

Sterling, the longest-tenured owner of any of the 30 NBA teams, will not be allowed any role in the operations of his team or be able to serve as one of the league's governors, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced at a news conference in New York.

"Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Sterling for life, from any association, with the Clippers organization, or the NBA," Silver told reporters at a news conference in New York City.

The controversy began over the weekend when the celebrity website TMZ.com released an audio recording with a voice said to be Sterling's criticizing a friend for associating with "black people."

An investigation into the recording concluded the voice was Sterling's Sil

Recommended