Athletes wield more power and influence over their careers than ever before. In the modern NBA, basketball players are empowered to fight for fair contracts and encouraged to support social movements that confront racism and discrimination. But that wasn’t always the case. Just a decade ago, a scandal rocked the entire league—and changed everything.It all started in 2014, when TMZ Sports obtained a leaked audio recording between Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his mistress, V. Stiviano. Over the nearly ten-minute tape, Sterling rants and berates Stiviano for taking a photo with Magic Johnson and posting it on Instagram. “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with Black people,” he says.Sterling’s comments shocked the sports world, and protests erupted across the NBA soon after. In a now-famous quote, LeBron James declared, “There’s no place for Donald Sterling in our league.” Though the NBA star wasn’t usually one to get political, his statement—among others from Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen A. Smith, DeAndre Jordan, Magic Johnson, and more—ushered in a new era for the sport. NBA commissioner Adam Silver used his own power to ban Sterling from the league for life.The scandal is now the focus of a dramatized miniseries on Hulu titled Clipped, starring Ed O’Neill as Sterling and Laurence Fishburne as then–Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. It’s based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast series The Sterling Affairs, hosted by NBA insider Ramona Shelburne. Back in 2019, Shelburne told Esquire that she “didn’t… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
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Clipped: How Donald Sterling’s Exit Changed the NBA Forever
