In 2009, Elgin Baylor sued Donald Sterling after being fired as GM of the Los Angeles Clippers. In the lawsuit, which he eventually lost, Baylor alleged racial and age discrimination against Sterling. It didn’t help Baylor’s case that he was employed for 22 years despite having a terrible record and only two winning seasons. But five years later, Baylor is feeling some vindication.
“Justice has been served,” Baylor said in an interview with CNN regarding the recent Sterling audio recordings. “Look at it that way. They know what Donald is like. The things I said before about Donald are absolutely true.”
Baylor alleged in the suit that Sterling aspired to run the Clippers like a Southern plantation. He accused Sterling of telling Danny Manning’s agent that he was offering the player a lot of money for a “poor black kid.” There were allegations that Sterling would bring his friends into the locker room to gaze at the players as they would shower, change and dress, and he would frequently say, “look at those beautiful black bodies.”
“It just brought back memories of some of the things that were said by Donald,” Baylor said to CNN of the audio tapes. “It didn’t surprise me at all, no. That’s the Donald Sterling I know. He says a lot of things, different things, he has different mood swings. You never know what he’s going to say or do.”
Baylor could have proceeded with the racial discrimination portion of his lawsuit, but he decided to drop that in 2011. However, what he did reveal gave many of us our first glimpse into what Sterling really is like.
H/T Point Forward
