Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor supports the NBA’s decision to impose a lifetime ban on Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
Sterling was banned after an investigation revealed (and Sterling admitted) that his voice was heard an audio recording, obtained by TMZ, telling his girlfriend to stop bringing black people to Clippers games. One of the men Sterling referred to was former Lakers star and current owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Magic Johnson.
“The views expressed by Mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday, according to Pro Basketball Talk. “That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage.”
Silver banned Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization and the NBA. In addition, Sterling may not attend any NBA games or practices, and he cannot be affiliated with any business decisions involving the Clippers. He was also fined $2.5 million – the maximum amount allowed by the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
Silver is also urging other team owners to force Sterling into selling the Clippers.
Taylor, who is the chairman for the NBA’s Board of Governors, is in the early stages of getting 28 other NBA team owners to vote in favor of Sterling selling his team. If 75 percent of the 29 other team owners vote in favor of the move, Sterling will be forced to sell, per league bylaws.
“I’m not worried about the votes to do so,” Taylor told the Star Tribune. “I think we’re going into some uncharted areas and I think we want to make sure we take each step with caution and make sure we’re doing the right thing, knowing there could be some legal challenges where we’re going. I think we have to be very careful. We’re in uncharted ground. We want to move in one sense with some speed but in another sense making sure that we come to a conclusion here.”
As of 3:30 p.m., the only Timberwolves player to comment publicly on the issue was forward Shabazz Muhammad, who posted this message on Twitter.
WE ARE ONE!!! #NBA
— shabazzmuhammad.eth (@ShabazzMuhammad) April 29, 2014
Muhammad’s tweet is a reflection of the Clippers team website, which cannot be navigated and consists of only this image.
