Donald Sterling will be the subject of an NBA press conference with Adam Silver on Tuesday and the live stream of the presser can be watched on ESPN and WatchESPN as the LA Clippers situation with Sterling's racist comments will have some progress made and an announcement of a suspension and further penalties, money fines or investigations could be announced when things start up at 2 pm ET and update, he has been hit with a lifetime ban from all NBA and Clippers activites.
Check here for the NBA press conference live stream from ESPN or for more on the NBA playoffs.
The audio recordings came out over the weekend and totally threw a wrench into the Clippers game mindset on Sunday and now there will be some sort of resolution, even a short term one, as Silver is expected to announce that a suspension is coming. Most legal experts believe it will be hard for the NBA to get Sterling to sell his team, especially with the way he likes to litigate, but Silver should be able to at least get him out of operating the team in the playoffs. Many see that an indefinite suspension is coming because that will put the issue to bed for at least a short amount of time before a full punishment comes down officially.
The NBA is doing things the right way and many have said that they think the NBA will make the right call about what to do with Sterling, who has had racist issues following him for many years, although none this public or explicit. The name drops of Magic Johnson and Matt Kemp made things even more terrible and now Silver will take the next step at the press conference. Silver will come out hard against Sterling, but things could get complicated later down the line, as Sterling is the longest tenured owner in the league and getting him to sell may not be so easy to do.
Everyone has come out to denounce the comments and that of course is the right move, but Mark Cuban, according to ESPN.com, said it could be a slippery slope for owners if they can lose their teams or be forced out over what Sterling did. Cuban obviously said what he did was not right and that there is no excuse for it, but that it also could be a problem in the future for other owners. Cuban said that the NBA has bylaws and they will go by them and he said that he trusts Silver to take the appropriate actions.
Sterling was not at Game 4 in Golden State and he will not attend the game on Tuesday at the Staples Center. Mark Jackson has said he wants fans to boycott the game, but he has been in some issues with the Warriors himself and he could be out of a job if he loses to the Clippers amid this situation. The series is now tied 2-2 and the Clippers are looking to take advantage at home, but they may not have the friendly court that they were hoping for. The next game in the series would be on Thursday and that would be back in Oakland and now the Clippers will have to find a way to win on Tuesday amid all of the craziness going on and players like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will be under the spotlight even more.