Donald Sterling

Crimes, scandals and misdemeanors aren't just the domain of NBA players anymore. Just ask the Los Angeles Clippers. Their team owner, Donald Sterling, gave graphic testimony last fall about his ongoing sexual relationship with what he called in court a "$500-a-trick freak".

This is big news for anyone, but especially for the National Basketball Association. The NBA, headed by commissioner David Stern, is used to dealing with the shenanigans and crimes of its star players as they allow fame and money to go to their heads, but having the owner of a team involved in a scandal this big is a completely new ball game.

Some say bad behavior trickles down from above. If that's true this may not bode well for the Clippers. If we can expect this kind of behavior from their owner, what kind of behavior has he been condoning or covering up for them all along? Any way you slice it, this lawsuit is big news.

Interestingly, the lawsuit was brought by Sterling against the same woman he claims to have paid for sex. This means he has admitted to one crime to punish someone else for what he sees as another crime. You can read the full text of his deposition here (contains graphic language and sexual content): http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0812041sterling1.html.

Sterling purchased the Clippers for what is considered a "song" by NBA standards: $12.5 Million in 1981. The team is now worth over $240 Million dollars, and is known for making bad trades, not paying its star players enough money, and shoddy conditions. Sterling has developed his own reputation as a noted tightwad, in spite of this incident's evidence to the contrary.

Sterling got his start as a real estate big wig in Los Angeles, amassing countless properties and enough money to make Donald Trump jealous. Since buying the Clippers in the Eighties, he has done little to improve the team, build a reputation or hire the staff needed to improve the team’s record. The Los Angeles Clippers remain one of the worst teams in NBA history. 

This lawsuit is not the first controversy surrounding Sterling. He was ordered by a judge in 2005 to pay $5 Million in damages and fees when he was accused of ousting blacks and latinos from an apartment complex he owned in Los Angeles's Koreatown neighborhood. In 2006 he was sued by the US Department of Justice for refusing to rent apartments to blacks and families with children. He has also recently lost real estate ownership judgments in Century City, California and received flack for his garish, full-page ads in local Los Angeles papers.