If Adam Silver’s confidence is any indication, Donald Sterling will be forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers at some point in the near future.
On Tuesday, the NBA commissioner announced that Sterling has been banned from the NBA for life. That sanction is independent of the next step in the process, which will be to force Sterling to sell his team by way of a vote from the league’s other owners. In order to push Sterling out, Silver would need 75% of the owners to vote to remove the 81-year-old.
What happens if he can’t get the 75% of the vote that he needs? When a reporter asked Silver on Tuesday if a failure to get 75% of the vote would mean Sterling can remain an absentee owner and continue profiting from the Clippers, he basically dismissed that as a possibility.
“I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him,” Silver said.
Even Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who indicated on Monday that forcing Sterling to sell his team as a result of private comments he made in his home would be a slippery slope, supported Silver’s decision.
I agree 100% with Commissioner Silvers findings and the actions taken against Donald Sterling
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) April 29, 2014
Voting against removing Sterling would be nothing but bad PR for the other owners around the NBA. I’d be shocked if Silver doesn’t get close to 100% of the vote.
