The NBA will be fining Donald Sterling $2.5 million for his alleged racist comments that have been making all the headlines since the weekend. The reason you fine a rich person exorbitant amounts of money is because that’s how you punish them. But the NBA isn’t stopping there. As part of his disgrace and retribution, they’re about to make him an even richer man.
When league commissioner Adam Silver announced how the NBA was coming down on Sterling for his offensive racist comments, they dropped a hammer. Hard. He was blackballed from any NBA event, anywhere, ever again. And the league wants to force him to sell the team. And there’s the rub.
Sterling bought the team back in 1985 for $12 million. Conservative estimates value the team between $250 and $500 million. And possibly between $750 and $1 billion. Some punishment. And one of the people likely interested in the team: Magic Johnson, who’s one of the guys Sterling was ticked that his girlfriend was posting pictures with. At least that would be some comeuppance.
But regardless of who buys the team, it’s going to be a huge cash cow for Sterling. If he didn’t have to sell, the team might wither away as players would likely leave, and he’d lose money. At least, that’s one potential that our Man on the Edge, Robert Wilder, wanted to find out…
