Damn, so recordings with Donald Sterling talking reckless are not just a recent thing. According to reports, a special committee of NBA owners tried to vote out Sterling way back in 1982! Did they just have a bad vibe about him? Saw bad things coming? Possibly, but it also stemmed from a recording with Sterling’s voice on it that was in front of a different crowd. Hit the jump.
@IamJoeSports
Obviously the vote to oust Sterling in 82′ didn’t work as he is still the owner today. But it goes to show even more proof the NBA knew they had trouble when Sterling got involved with the league way back then:
A special committee of six NBA owners unanimously recommended Sterling’s removal in September 1982. Created after Sterling’s aborted attempt to relocate the franchise from San Diego to Los Angeles, the committee grew concerned about late payments by the Clippers to players, hotels, program printers and others…But much of the controversy revolved around an audiotape.
The tape in question was recorded at a luncheon that year that had Sterling insisting the Clippers should finish dead last so they can have a chance to draft a player like Ralph Sampson. For anyone uninformed, Sampson was the best college player in the country that year and was a lock to be selected with the top pick in the NBA draft.
So basically Sterling was the first person to ever speak of his team “tanking” publicly and the other owners thought that was so unprofessional and a bad mark for the league because it could give the impression maybe games were fixed or teams went out to lose purposely. If they only knew the mark he would leave on the league 32 years later.
Funny thing is now the term “tanking” is used somewhat freely among the NBA, especially this past season. It is still frowned upon by league officials, but the word is somewhat accepted even though the meaning is still the same.
Too bad those owners weren’t successful back then in getting rid of him. They would of saved the league and millions of people from the controversy he caused last week.
