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| *The woman in black: Shelly Sterling courtside at a Clippers game. Photo: AP |
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OKLAHOMA CITY: The biggest threat to
the Los Angeles Clippers franchise wasn't sitting courtside, a place
where she had the nerve to plant herself in Oakland, California one day
after her estranged husband and co-owner's words tore apart their team.
The biggest danger to the Clippers wasn't in a luxury box,
where she unabashedly showed up at Staples Center in Los Angeles
recently surrounded by bodyguards even though it was clear she was not
welcome.
On a sweepin' Oklahoma Wednesday night where outside winds
temporarily dimmed the lights and inside desperation made the Thunder
roar, it was really nice that the Clippers' personal dark cloud was not
present.
But, as a
Los Angeles Times report indicated earlier on
Wednesday, the respite will be brief. Shelly Sterling, estranged wife of
banned owner Donald Sterling and legal co-owner of the team, is not
going away. And the team's future is about to get a lot stormier.
Shortly before they lost to Oklahoma City, 112-101, to tie
this second-round playoff series at one game apiece, the embattled
Clippers teetered closer to the edge of chaos with the news that all
this ugliness is about to get uglier.
Shelly Sterling told the
Times she believes she is
legally entitled to own the team despite the league's effort to strip it
from her husband, and indicated she would fight to keep it, and can you
imagine?
Just when a fragile Clippers team was beginning to trust that the
reign of a racist was over, they learn that they could still be playing
for his longtime partner who has also been alleged to be his
co-conspirator?
"We almost made it out of Oklahoma City," said Clippers coach
Doc Rivers when asked about Shelly Sterling's comments, shaking his
head at this turmoil that will seemingly not dissipate. "I don't know,
I'm not prepared to make a comment on it, I would like to wait."
The NBA can't afford to wait. Remember, the league had to act
quickly to remove Donald Sterling before the Clippers and the other NBA
playoff teams staged a boycott. An audiotape containing his racist
comments was released on a Friday night, and Sterling was gone by
Tuesday morning.
The NBA has to respond quickly again. How can it have a co-owner who
has been involved in racist allegations now claiming she's in charge of a
team whose other co-owner has just been banned for racist comments?
Adam Silver, the new NBA commissioner, was a hero when he
kicked out Donald Sterling in front of national television cameras. But
in a Chesapeake Energy Arena hallway in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night,
when asked about Shelly Sterling, he refused to comment.
Shelly Sterling is that toxic. She is that dangerous. She is
more than just preening blond and leather. She is, by all appearances,
cold and calculating. One minute she is claiming her estranged husband
is not a racist. The next minute she is condemning his
"small-mindedness" and "racist comments."
One minute she tells the
Times, "The focus remains on our
team winning an NBA championship." Yet for the previous 10 days she has
distracted the team from that focus by showing up at games even though
the league has asked her to stay away.
She is Cruella de Sterling, and her presence strikes the Clippers' players at the centre of their collective conscience.
Just when they've proudly stood firm against ever playing
again for Donald Sterling, now they have to worry about playing for
someone whose actions have been allegedly just as despicable?
At this point, they have resigned themselves to allowing the
NBA to handle all matters Sterling, and will probably take no action on
the latest news. But what are they and their inner circles going to be
thinking about it? And how is that going to affect how they play?
How can they stomach the idea of playing for a woman who is
featured on a video that shows her posing as a health inspector entering
the Sterling-owned apartments of minority renters? The video was part
of a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs testified that her intention was
to, "harass and intimidate African-American and Latino tenants."
How can they stand the notion of working for someone who was
featured in depositions in which it is alleged that she claimed Latinos
were "filthy," and that she once called a tenant a "who do you think you
are, you black (bleep)" after he attempted to reduce his rent.
One deposition even claimed that she told a tenant she agreed
with her husband's opinion of African-Americans, saying, "See, Sterling
is right, they do smell."
Donald Sterling reached a $US2.8 million ($3 million)
settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in 2009 on these allegations
that he discriminated against building tenants based on their race, but
never admitted any wrongdoing.
To the Clippers, Shelly Sterling's very presence will be all
wrong, and what will happen when they start seriously pondering a future
with this ugliness? This could not only distract them the rest of the
season - remember, they've already protested once by turning their
shooting shirts inside out - but could tear apart the Clippers in the
future.
Nobody is going to want to play for her, yet the team's stars
are all stuck in long-term contracts. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are
both in the first of five-year deals they cannot terminate until the
fourth year. J.J. Redick is in the first of a four-year deal. DeAndre
Jordan is in the third of a four-year deal. Then there is Rivers, who
basically just arrived and is coaching in the first of a three-year
contract.
If Shelly Sterling is the boss this summer, and if the NBA
doesn't have an obvious plan to eject her, it would not be surprising if
some of the Clippers - including and especially Rivers - petition the
league to be free of their deals and play elsewhere.
When asked about the news of Shelly Sterling's fighting to
keep the team on Wednesday night, Paul said, "That's the first I ever
heard of it. I'll worry about that later."
But rest assured, he will worry. They'll all worry. If Shelly
Sterling is allowed to continue association with this team, everyone
who cares about the future of not only the Clippers but the entire NBA
should worry.
The Los Angeles Times
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