The NBA announced today that it has banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and fined $2.5 million, the maximum amount, after he was recorded making racist comments.
“Effective immediately, I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver during a news conference in New York.
Silver also said he would immediately recommend to the NBA Board of Governors that they force a sale of the Clippers and that he would do “everything in [his] power to ensure that happens.”
Sterling, 80, has owned the Clippers since 1981.
The money from the $2.5 million fine will be donated to anti-discrimination groups, Silver said.