LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling banned over racist comments

Los Angeles The NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and fined him the maximum 25 million Tuesday for deeply offensive and harmful racist comments that sparked a national firestormHours after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hit Sterling with every penalty at his disposal including calling on other owners to force him to sell his team Clippers coach Glenn Doc Rivers welcomed the move as his players took the court against the Golden State WarriorsThese last three or four days have been very difficult for everybody no matter what your race Rivers said I thought that was the sigh of relief we neededFans holds a sign reading Magic 4 Owner before the start of the NBA playoff game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors Pic AFPIs this over No its not over Rivers added But its the start of a healing process that we needRivers said he felt his team had played under undeserved stress in the three days since an audio recording surfaced of 80yearold billionaire Sterling urging his girlfriend not to publicly associate with blacksClippers players staged a silent protest in Oakland on Sunday before a blowout road loss to the Warriors and Rivers said the Sterling affair had taken a tollThe surprisingly tough sanctions earned swift praise from across basketball with current and former stars lauding Silvers decisive action on his 88th day in the job since replacing 30year NBA boss David SternThe views expressed by Mr Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful Silver told a news conference in New York That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrageThe punishment following a lightningfast investigation means real estate tycoon Sterling cannot attend any National Basketball Association NBA games or workouts appear at any Clippers office or facility or make any business or personnel decisions for the clubSilver said he will urge NBA owners to strip the team from Sterling The market value of the team Sterling bought for 12 million in 1981 is expected to approach 600 millionThreequarters of the owners must vote to force Sterling to sell and a lengthy court fight from Sterling is still possibleI fully expect to get the support I need from fellow NBA owners to remove him Silver said Painful moment In the recording made public over the weekend the man now confirmed to be Sterling told his muchyounger girlfriend that he didnt want her associating with black people or attending Clippers games with black friendsIt bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that youre associating with black people Do you have to Sterling says later adding You can sleep with black people You can bring them in you can do whatever you wantThe little I ask you is not to promote it and not to bring them to my gamesSilver apologized to NBA coaches players fans and business partners adding This has been a painful moment for all members of the NBA familyThe Clippers saw sponsors leave in droves on Monday with some of the departed backers advertising hastily covered at Staples Center for Tuesdays gameSilver asked sponsors who cut ties with the Clippers to judge us by our response to this incident and urged fans to continue to support Clippers playersIndeed fans greeted the Clippers rapturously before game five of their firstround playoff series with the Golden State WarriorsHate will never win read one sign held by a fan Rise above said another while one Tshirt slogan urged Love the Players on the front with the back emblazoned Hate the Owner