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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Tuesday that Donald Sterling is banned for life from the Clippers organization. As well, he has been fined $2.5 million. Finally, Silver will recommend to the Board of Governors that Sterling be forced to sell the team. Fine and Expulsion The fine of $2.5 million was not a surprise. The likely range was somewhere between $1 million and $5 million. However, the NBA went farther than expected by banning Sterling for life from the Clippers. That means that Sterling is not only permanently removed from the day-to-day operations of the league, but he cant be part of the franchise in any way. A suspension of 1 to 2 years was initially expected. Banning Sterling for life is a precedent setting punishment and appropriate under the circumstances. The comments were of course despicable and disturbing. As well, the majority of the NBA player population is of color. According to a 2013 report, 76.3 per cent of NBA players are African-American and 80.1 per cent are of color. So when the majority of the league workforce is African-American, the NBA has no choice but to ask as decisively as possible within its legal framework. Forcing the Sale of the Team This is where things get a bit messy. The NBA by-laws allow the league to remove an owner in limited circumstances, including if the team is in financial distress. We saw something similar in baseball when MLB took over the Dodgers when Frank McCourt made a mess of the team. The NBA by-laws, however, are unlikely to provide a reasonable basis for the league to terminate his ownership. Rather, the NBA will likely look to Article 35 of the NBA Constitution, which allows the commissioner to indefinitely suspend owners for "conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the association". The NBA needs three-quarters of owners to agree to the sale. This is broad language and does provide an arguable legal basis to remove Sterling. However, I emphasize "arguable." This language does not unequivocally give the NBA the authority to hand down the most dramatic and substantial of all penalties - forcing an owner to sell. So that means its possible that Sterling could fire back with a lawsuit if forced to sell alleging that the leagues owners have acted unlawfully. That type of lawsuit could be worth $100 million plus for Sterling. Thats why the NBA didnt announce Sterling is being forced to sell; rather they announced they would recommend that he be forced to sell and take it from there. As part of that same lawsuit, Sterling could allege that the NBA doesnt have the authority to ban him for life, and that the penalty is disproportionately high. Not only does Sterling have a history of racially insensitive comments, he also has a history of suing the NBA. After acquiring the San Diego Clippers in 1981, Sterling moved the team to Los Angeles without the leagues consent in 1984. David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA at the time, fined Sterling $25 million. What did Sterling do in response? He sued the NBA for $100 million. The fine was later reduced to $6 million. So depending on how Sterling takes Tuesdays news, this may not be done. Air Jordans Uk Sale . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Cheap Air Jordan Uk . Cleveland has won the first two of this set and has won six straight games since losing back-to-back tilts to open the year. Seattle, on the other hand, has now lost six in a row following consecutive wins to kick off its campaign. http://www.discountairjordanuk.com/ . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution. Wholesale Air Jordans Free Shipping . TSN platforms will broadcast 75+ live games per season – tripling the networks current slate of MLB games. With the new deal TSN retains rights to ESPNs SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL and, for the first time, acquires rights to ESPNs MONDAY NIGHT BASEBALL and WEDNESDAY NIGHT BASEBALL. Air Jordan Shoes Sale Uk .J. Ellis hit an RBI single in the ninth inning, Hanley Ramirez hit a tape-measure, three-run homer in the first against Cliff Lee and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Saturday night.LOS ANGELES -- Pau Gasol and Steve Nash watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench. Kobe Bryant sat one row behind them in a black shirt and suit. The Lakers three veteran stars were spectators for one remarkable show put on by five Lakers reserves who werent ready to cede Los Angeles supremacy to their Staples Center rivals. Xavier Henry scored a career-high 22 points, Jordan Farmar added 16, and the Lakers surged past the Los Angeles Clippers in the final minutes for a 116-103 victory in both clubs season opener Tuesday night. By the time the Lakers reserves were done with Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, coach Doc Rivers Clippers debut was wrecked -- and so were many preconceptions about the Lakers prospects this season. The Lakers 76 bench points were the most in club history since March 1985. "Its not a bad thing to be the underdog sometimes," said Jodie Meeks, who scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. "No expectations. We go out there and play hard. Whats the worst that can happen? We lose, and people say were no good?" The Lakers 41-point fourth quarter was downright stunning, but the identities of the players responsible for this exciting, free-flowing opener were even more jaw-dropping. "Mike (DAntoni) did a great thing: He didnt bring his starters back in," Rivers said. "There was a point where I was thinking: Please bring them back in." A team that was 28th in the NBA in reserve scoring last season got outstanding bench play from a five-man unit, including three guys who werent even on the team last season: Wesley Johnson, two-time NBA champion Farmar, and Henry, the former first-round pick who burned out in Memphis and New Orleans. A new season is a chance for a fresh start, and Henry needs one just as much as the Lakers. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter while leading a 28-8 run. "Were a deep team, and people dont think were that good," Henry said. "That always fuels us. People are saying were going to finish 12th or whatever, but we have a great group of guys who go out there and play hard. Were young. Were athletic. We get after it." The long-established hoops hierarchy in Los Angeles flipped earlier this year: The Clippers won a division title and became veteran championship contenders, while the Lakers lost their stars to injury or free agency and prepared for a long rebuilding process. AAt least in the opener, the Lakers flipped it again -- and embarrassed Rivers in the process.dddddddddddd. "We were not ready tonight," said Rivers, the longtime Celtics coach who hopes to push the Clippers into title contention. "(The Lakers) have heard for probably the last two months how good (the Clippers) were going to be ... so you knew that they were going to play like this was the world championship -- with that type of energy. And I thought we never matched it. Everything they did was harder than us and more physical than us. They destroyed us on the glass and destroyed us in turnovers. So it was a good lesson for us." Griffin scored 19 points and Paul had 15 points and 11 assists for the Clippers, who beat the Lakers four times last season on the way to their first Pacific Division title. DeAndre Jordan added 17 points and 11 rebounds. "Youve got to give it to them. They outplayed us," Griffin said. "They did a good job. They were ready. They turned up the heat in the fourth quarter, and we didnt respond." Gasol scored 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter, and Jordan Hill added 12 points and eight rebounds as the Lakers improved to 42-24 on opening night, the best winning percentage in NBA history. After the off-season losses of Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, not much is expected from the Lakers. Yet they thrived for a night without Bryant, who missed a season opener for the first time since 2006. The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history hasnt returned to practice this fall after tearing his Achilles tendon late last season. The Clippers led 57-55 at halftime while hitting nearly 59 per cent of their shots. They pushed their lead to eight points in the third quarter, but the Lakers went ahead 86-83 with 9:06 to play on Meeks three-point play. "Oh, man, it seemed like it just happened so fast," Paul said. "Those guys executed their game plan, and when youre missing somebody like Kobe, you feed off that energy." NOTES: The evening began with a moment of silence for Bill Sharman, who died last week at 87. He coached the 1971-72 Lakers to their first championship in Los Angeles, winning an NBA-record 33 consecutive games along the way. ... The Clippers won their final seven games of the regular season last spring. ... Floyd Mayweather Jr., Diddy, Yasiel Puig, Tommy Lasorda and Flea attended the game. ' ' '