• Dominique Wilkins shared a story of him at a party with Donald Sterling
• Sterling is the former owner of the LA Clippers and was banned by the NBA after a series of controversies
• Sterling was forced to sell his team to Steve Ballmer
Donald Sterling is a name that more people are forgetting by the day. Just 10 years ago, that would’ve been impossible as Sterling was the owner of the Clippers. The former team owner was banned by the NBA for being openly racist and made to sell his teams. But during his time in the NBA, Sterling hosted some incredible parties for his players. Dominique Wilkins revealed what went down at one of these parties.
“And then we had a birthday party for a little kid, one of the wives on our team. And they roll the cake out, and a naked woman jumps out of the cake. I’m like, this man is crazy.”
Wilkins played just one season with the Clippers, leaving the franchise after playing just 25 games. He averaged 29.1 points and 7.0 rebounds over that time. Even though he didn’t make an impact on the court, his brief spell with the Clippers made him intimately familiar with a man the NBA would soon come to despise.
Donald Sterling Left The NBA As A Disgrace
The NBA will never see another owner like Donald Sterling. He was a part of the old school of team owners, being involved in the NBA for 33 years at the time of his sale of the Clippers.
In 2013, a conversation between Sterling and his mistress, V. Stiviano, was leaked, where Sterling repeatedly pleaded with Stiviano to not bring black people to his games. Sterling was primarily upset because she had posted a picture with Magic Johnson, one of the NBA’s most legendary figures.
After the comments were leaked, Sterling’s own team turned on him and tried boycotting a playoff game against the Golden State Warriors. They wore their practice clothes inside-out as a silent protest, something that teams around the NBA endorsed. The Clippers would lose most of their major sponsors over the situation, as a protracted legal battle between Sterling and the NBA would follow.
Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA and issued a $2.5 million in 2014, one of the strictest punishments ever imposed on a North American team owner. Sterling would try and delay the process before selling the franchise to Steve Ballmer, who completely revamped the Clippers within just a few years.
Donald Sterling Was One Of The Worst Owners In NBA History
We can say that Sterling was one of the worst team owners in NBA history based on how he was the first one to be banned from the NBA. Even the recent Robert Sarver scandal with the Suns ended with Sarver selling the franchise due to sponsor pressure, not because the NBA banned him.
Outside of the obvious off-court issues that Sterling had, he was basically incompetent when it came to fielding a good team. Outside the success of the ‘Lob City’ Clippers, Sterling had just six winning seasons in over 30 years of team ownership. Ballmer has already had more winning seasons than Sterling, even though the former Microsoft guru bought the team less than a decade ago.
From making his own players uncomfortable to never putting together a contender in LA, Sterling wrote a book on what not to do as an NBA owner that all future team owners will always remember. Or they’ll just not repeat what Sterling did due to common sense.
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