Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has done quite a job to shake up the entire NBA family over the past weekend with the now-infamous comments filled with hate towards African Americans.
The league is still in the process of investigating the authenticity of recordings that have been exposed by TMZ – recordings that reveal Sterling’s comments on not wanting black people at his games. There aren’t enough words to explain just how ridiculously stupid and ignorant those comments are, and plenty have spoken up about what this means for the league and the Clippers moving forward and what needs to be done.
Magic Johnson went live on air with the ABC/ESPN crew on Sunday to express his feelings on the situation, and aside from the fact that Sterling’s comments were unacceptably offensive, it was also very personal – Johnson’s name was specifically used by Sterling to make his point.
Later that evening, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that Johnson and his backers were strongly interested in purchasing the Clippers away from Sterling:
For all these despicable revelations tumbling out of the hateful heart of Donald Sterling, there promises construction of a roadmap to redemption for the Los Angeles Clippers and the NBA. There’s a way out for the most hated man in Los Angeles now, a way out for the commissioner’s office and the owners responsible for long legitimizing and harboring a bigot and slumlord.
Magic Johnson and his billionaire backers, the Guggenheim Partners, want a chance to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources told Yahoo Sports. “Magic’s absolutely interested,” one source closely connected to Johnson’s business interests told Yahoo Sports on Sunday night.
To bail themselves out of the NBA’s worst crisis of credibility since the Tim Donaghy officiating scandal, the easy part for the NBA will be enlisting the eagerness and financial muscle of Magic Johnson and Mark Walter of the Guggenheim Partners – owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It sounded rather strange. Johnson and everyone else wants Sterling away from the NBA for good – and purchasing the team would effectively do just that – but why would Johnson pay a man he fundamentally hates hundreds of millions of dollars? That’s kind of doing the man a big favor, and it didn’t seem to make much sense for Johnson to be a part of such a process.
On Monday, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA reported something completely opposite of what Woj had reported:
Sorry to ruin a beautiful idea, but source close to Magic says “zero, zero, zero conversations” about buying the Clips.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) April 28, 2014
So who has it right? Johnson broke his silence about the matter late Monday night to shut down all rumors of him having interest in buying the Clippers:
To NBA Fans, I want to put a stop to a rumor. I am not trying to buy the Clippers, they already have an owner.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 29, 2014
So that idea is out the window. New commissioner Adam Silver will have another press conference on Tuesday to reveal whatever they may have uncovered about the case. Stay tuned.
The NBA Remembers Dr. Jack Ramsay
Tweet of the Night: Wizards owner speaks out on Sterling
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.