With his back against the wall
It's probably the biggest racism scandal in recent US history. Now everybody got into it. From active players, former NBA players, artists, the US President and minority defenders all got vocal about Stirling's racist comments.
No one is happy about what Donald Stirling allegedly said, but everybody agreed on the fact that LA Clippers owner needs to step down. Clipper players were affected the most. The team has an African-American coach and 80 percent African American players. They were offended and thought about a boycott. However, coach Doc. Rivers said the team's goal is bigger than any comment and they are pursuing a dream that started years ago. But everyone is mad on Donald Stirling even if he is the man providing their salaries.
“We had a team meeting, a lot of guys voiced their opinions and none of them were happy about it! This is a situation where we are trying to go after something very important for us, something that we all dreamed about it since childhood and Donald or anybody else had nothing to do with that dream so we are not going to let anything in the way. My job is to try and lead them the best way I know how. The best way I know how is try to get them together unite them to play and to play well, but no doubt about it, this is a distraction. No one was happy hearing those comments. J.J. Ridick (Caucasian) was as mad as everyone else and that's the way it should be,” said LA Clippers coach, Doc Rivers.
Not being directly involved, Lebron James expressed his thought on the matter. He said there is no place for such a person in the NBA. “Obviously if this in true it it very sensitive. There is no room for this in our game. We found a way to make this the greatest game in the world. Comments like that take the game away and we can't have that. We can't have it from a player, from an owner, from a fan and so on. It really does not matter if you are Black, White, Hispanic or whatever the case might be. We can't have that and I'm sure the NBA Commission will take care of this. It has been an incredible 2014 playoffs and we don't want Donald Stirling's comments to overshadow what this game means to everyone,” said Lebron James.
Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson was even more drastic and said Donald Stirling needs to step down. “If you come to me and say...hey look I'm a racist, I discriminate against Blacks, I don;t like you because you are African American I respect that and I can respect you more by doing that. But don't smile in my face, shake my hand and you don't really respect me and don't want me to be around or want me to come to your games as the owner of the Clippers. I feel bad for Doc Rivers, Chris Paul and all other players that play for Donald Sterling. I think we are all upset all African Americans and I think he should step down,” said NBA Hall of Famer, Magic Johnson.
Donald Stirling is a real-estate developer and attorney that bought the Clippers franchise in 1982 and moved it from San Diego City to Los Angeles.
