[ad name=”AmazonSports468″]

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the decisions taken on behalf of the league against Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, following the circulation of his racist statements. Sterling has been fined $2.5 million and above all was banned for life from the NBA. This means he can’t participate in any way in the Clippers activities and Adam Silver asked the owners of the other NBA teams to start a motion to force Sterling to sell the franchise.

A few days ago, a recording was broadcast in which Sterling complained to his girlfriend Vivian Stiviano claiming to be irritated to see that she got photographed alongside former champion Magic Johnson adding a series of racist remarks about black people.

Obviously, the reactions came quickly and were very strong. Donald Sterling is a public figure so even President Barack Obama condemned his comments as racist and ignorant. Magic Johnson, directly mentioned by Sterling, stated he’s very sorry about what happened, especially for the Clippers staff and players, who are working for someone so petty.

Before the start of the first game played by the Clippers after the scandal broke out, the players left the team jerseys in the middle of the court as a sign of protest against Sterling. The Clippers lost that game but won the next one, played last night. Understandably, for them it’s a difficult situation.

Commissioner Adam Silver consulted with representatives of the players and with the other owners. In the end, yesterday he held a press conference where he announced his decision and expressed his disappointment with Donald Sterling. Silver mentioned out some of the great black players who made the history of the NBA and expressed solidarity with the Clippers staff and players.

It’s not the first time that Donald Sterling has been involved in a situation linked to racism. In recent years, he got involved even in lawsuits for discrimination against blacks and Hispanics. In 2009, Elgin Baylor, a Clippers manager, sued him due to racial discrimination against his employees.

In short, Donald Sterling’s disgusting opinion are not a surprise. Now that they have been recorded and everybody could hear them the NBA could react in the strongest way against him. Adam Silver’s message of is crystal clear: racism can’t be tolerated and racists are not welcome in the NBA.