Donald Sterling Seeks to Force Commissioner’s Hand

Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling has indicated that he won’t pay the $2.5 million fine levied on him by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as punishment for his racist remarks. Now we get to see what kind of backbone the new commissioner really has because Sterling isn’t going away quietly.

This is an extremely messy situation for a commissioner to have to deal with in his inaugural year at the position but after serving so many years under David Stern, Silver should be prepared to go toe-to-toe with the Clippers’ enigmatic owner.

While many looking in have voiced their disapproval that an owner could be forced to sell his property, it is going to happen. What Sterling is doing now only seeks to prolong the process.

Silver has plenty of tools at his disposal that could turn Sterling’s attempt at playing hardball with him into a disastrous decision. Sterling is probably feeling confident because he has had a major run-in with the league before and came out on top.

Back when Sterling first bought the Clippers, he moved them from San Diego to Los Angeles against the wishes of the league.

The league assessed him a $25 million fine as punishment for doing so but Sterling fought the league and ended up paying only six million dollars for moving the team.

So why wouldn’t Sterling be confident that he could do it again?

He came out on top last time he challenged the league. This time though, what he has done has caused major embarrassment to the league and could potentially cause irreparable damage between the league and its players.

So this is where Silver gets to show his heavy hand. If Sterling isn’t willing to sell the team at the height of its value, then he may be end up with a team with virtually little value by the time this ordeal is over.

Simply put, no one wants to play for Sterling. While most of Sterling’s challenges will take months to resolve since they will come through the court system, Silver can make moves that will immediately affect the Clippers.

One response that has been bandied about is allowing the current players on the roster to become free agents after the season. If that happens then Sterling might find it difficult to field a team next season.

Another option to consider is one that former Commissioner Stern used on the Minnesota Timberwolves in response to the Joe Smith contract violation.

The Timberwolves lost five first round draft choices behind that ordeal, do you think Silver would be willing to snatch a whole decade’s worth of picks away from the Clippers?

I personally favor a combination of the two which would probably force the Clippers to have to forfeit all their games because they won’t have enough players to field a team. That is unless Sterling finally decides to sell the team, then these infractions would be lifted.

And if the Clippers do find a way to field a team it will look a lot like an expansion team putting the franchise back to where it has spent the majority of its existence: the bottom of the standings.

After years of frustration, does Sterling really want to experience that again?

Who knows? We are talking about Donald Sterling here.

 Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He can be contacted atsportmentalist@yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.