Could This Tape Be The Unravelling of the Entire NBA Tapestry?

Wow.  A Nothing-Burger this is NOT!!

We now have fifteen minutes of racist diatribe to go through here.  Apparently, the extra five and a half minutes, which most can find for themselves, make Sterling look even worse than the first nine.

This is rapidly becoming unhinged, with the following recent developments:

• In statements which will probably make no one happy except Sterling himself, unidentified parties who have perused the secret documents (what is the NBA, a freaking secret-handshake society??) which constitute the NBA's constitution and by-laws have stated to several media outlets that Adam Silver CANNOT expel Donald Sterling from the NBA for any reason other than a payroll miss.

To say this is going to piss off all right-thinking people is probably an understatement.  To anyone with two functioning brain cells (which, once again -- and this might merit it's own post!! -- dis-includes most of the Internet, according to the commenters I and people I've talked to have read), the only discernible way to get out of this without serious damage (and, given the superiority of the NFL, perhaps TERMINAL damage) to the National Basketball Association is to rid them of the virus that is Donald Sterling.

Let's get this out of the way right now:  He's suing, whatever the punishment is.  He's going to claim "illegal wiretap" this and "the bitch is out to get me" that, and all that.  Fact is, the Los Angeles Clippers, as a competitive going concern, are finished in the NBA as long as Donald Sterling remains the owner.  He's probably s the shaved many millions off the going price of the Clippers, at the rate he's going.

Worse yet, I don't think Donald Sterling would give a shit and a half (much less two) if he fielded a 5-77 team full of 12-15 D-League level white guys.  This guy does not give a shit about the competitive balance of the NBA, much less anything else, as long as he makes money and people kiss his ring/foot/ass.

• League protests have now reached Miami, who, before their series-clinching win over Charlotte, did the same thing the Clippers did before their game in Oakland yesterday:  threw down their T-shirts, revealing that they had also turned their warmup outfits inside-out so as not to show their team name.

On the surface, and correctly, this is a great move by the two-time defending champions to make a statement.  This is on top of the additional protests registered last night before the Portland-Houston game (thanks to my continuingly-contributing anonymous friend!).

Down deeper, it could present a very real problem for the league, and it could start the moment Adam Silver gives a punishment, even if it is the maximum punishment the aforementioned NBA by-laws and constitution allow him to.

Can we say "Playoffs players' strike"?

Obviously, as an occasional reader of Robert's Rules, and also with the understanding of what by-laws and constitutions actually are, there should be a way (yes, Mark Cuban, you are right that this can lead to a slippery slope if abused) to amend the by-laws to force out Sterling in the best interests of the NBA.

But there are times when there is no other option.  I believe you are on the cusp of a players' strike, during the playoffs, if Silver's hands are tied.  And that's nothing to say about what might happen at the top of next season when it's clear that not only might no one want to play FOR Sterling, there might be a significant number of African-American players who don't want to play AGAINST him either.

• A significant number of Clippers' sponsors are either gone permanently or until Sterling is replaced.

 As of yesterday, USA Today reports:

"In rapid succession, the mass exodus included used car seller CarMax, State Farm Insurance, Kia Motors America, airline Virgin America, P. Diddy's water brand, AQUAHydrate, Red Bull, Yokohama tires and Mercedes-Benz."

This is the kind of action which can force extra-constitutional action on the part of the NBA.  That, in very short order, is eight premium sponsors out the door.

Should the NBA not commit a sufficient action to this, that could well expand beyond the Clippers.

• The coach of the Golden State Warriors has called for a fan boycott of Game 5.

Both sides.

The problem, Mark Jackson, is, if you really feel that way as an African-American, why not call for the boycott of Game 4 in your own building?

Although it did lead to at least one memorable meme from Sunday's fans:

• The coach of the Clippers, Doc Rivers, refused to speak with Sterling about the tape and believes it's his voice thereon.

I'll say this:  One thing which will come of this is, if Sterling sues, there will be a new coach of the LA Clippers (if there is an LA Clippers by the end of all this -- if the by-laws can't get rid of Sterling, could the owners vote to remove the team and place a new one in LA, if that's the only way out?).

Rivers, who is also VP of player personnel, has said he can't be sure if he can continue to coach the team.

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And that's just a SMALL LIST...

This is becoming the single-biggest "The Show Must Go On" moment since Penn State, Joe Paterno, and Jerry Sandusky.

Like that, though, there appears to be one major question:

How was it allowed to go on for so long?

And how do you get out of it, knowing he's going to sue everybody involved?

Hell, if he reads this, he'll probably try to sue me!  :)

And the final question would be:  If he's going to go down, he almost-certainly knows a lot of skeletons in the NBA closets.  Could he go scorched-earth and nail the NBA?