NBA legend and Hall of Famer Magic Johnson is predicting L.A. Clippers players will never again play for any ownership team that includes members of long-time owner Donald Sterling's family in the wake of his recent rant about not wanting blacks attending his games.
With estranged wife Shelly Sterling now on record in asserting she is interested in keeping the 50 percent of the team she owns in her name, Johnson, who was targeted by name in Sterling's initial rant, in no uncertain terms insisted to USA Today Sports on Friday "those guys are not going to play for anybody named Sterling. It's just how it is. It's hard to separate the two. It's going to be hard for them to sell that to the fans and definitely to the players."
Since the tape became public, first-year NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has imposed a lifetime ban on Sterling, the league's longest tenured owner, and slapped him with a league maximum $2.5 million fine. Also on Friday, the league announced former Time Warner executive Richard Parsons has been installed to run the team's business operations.
In voicing his concerns about a possible Shelly Sterling majority ownership, Johnson referenced her history of being accused of forcing tenants of her many housing properties to live in substandard conditions.
LeBron James avoided Clippers because of Donald Sterling?
"When they accused them of being slumlords, that was both, it wasn't one person," he told USA Today. "It was both of them. They will never recover from this. All the sponsors pulling out, they will pull out for good if she is owning it. It's not going to be the same."
In fact, if Silver had not quickly taken the actions he did against Sterling, Johnson insists all the players were ready to walk off the court in protest.
"Everybody was going to boycott," he said.
Think Magic Johnson should buy the Clippers? Tell us @SportsWN
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
