NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media this evening in regards to Clippers owner Donald Sterling‘s alleged racist remarks on an audio recording which was first reported by TMZ.com.
Here’s the latest on this developing story:
- Silver stated that the first priority is determining if the audio recording is authentic, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
- Kennedy also tweets that Silver said, “The audio recording posting by TMZ is truly offensive and disturbing and we intend to get to the bottom of it ASAP.”
- Silver said that the situation is most unfair to the Clippers’ players and coaches, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPN.com.
- Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) reports that Silver urged patience and that due process would have to occur prior to any sanctions.
- Silver said, “I’m not prepared to discuss any potential sanctions against Donald Sterling. We will, however, move quickly,” per another tweet by Kennedy.
- Sterling has agreed not to attend Sunday’s game against the Warriors, reports Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link).
- Markazi tweets that Silver said he hopes to have the investigation wrapped up in the next few days, hopefully before Game 5 on Tuesday.
- Earlier today the Clippers players and coaches held a meeting where they discussed boycotting their next game, but they decided against it, writes Markazi.
- Michael McCann of SI.com examined the NBA’s legal options in this case.
- President of the NBA player’s union Chris Paul said, “On behalf of the National Basketball Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively. We have asked [Sacramento] Mayor Kevin Johnson to expand his responsibilities with the NBPA, to determine our response and our next steps. As players, we owe it to our teams and our fans to keep our focus on our game, the playoffs, and the drive to the Finals,” write Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick of USA Today.
- In the same article Johnson said, “The reported comments made by Clippers owner Donald Sterling are reprehensible and unacceptable. The National Basketball Players Association must and will play a very active role in determining how this issue is addressed.“
- In an article by Ben Golliver of SI.com, Charles Barkley weighed in, saying, “This is the first test of Adam Silver. He’s got to suspend [Sterling] right now. You can’t have this guy making statements like that. [Silver] has to suspend him and fine him immediately. He has to be suspended. … When you’re in a position of power, and you can take jobs and economic opportunities from people, that’s what crosses the line. We can’t have an NBA owner discriminating against a league — we’re a black league.”