In this Nov. 12, 2010, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling, right, sits with his wife Rochelle during the Clippers NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles. An attorney representing the estranged wife of Clippers owner Donald Sterling said Thursday, May 8, 2014, that she will fight to retain her 50 percent ownership stake in the team. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Clippers coach Glenn “Doc” Rivers reportedly says a racism firestorm around banned team owner Donald Sterling would make it hard to accept Sterling’s wife as the club’s new owner.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that even though the ban imposed against Sterling does not prevent his wife Shelly from taking control of the club, the controversy would make it difficult to have her in an ownership role.
“I think it would be a very hard situation,” Rivers said. “I can guarantee you every person wouldn’t be on board with that. Whether I would or not, I’m not going to say, but I just know that would be a very difficult situation for everybody… because of the relationship.
“I think it would be a difficult situation because we wouldn’t know really who was in charge.”
Recordings of Sterling, an 80-year-old real estate billionaire, making racist remarks to his girlfriend were made public almost two weeks ago.
In the recordings Sterling said he didn’t want her bringing black people to Clippers games or posting photos of herself with black people on social media.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver responded last week with a life ban on Sterling and began the process of owners voting to strip the team from him, adding pressure to try and force a sale from Sterling, who bought the club in 1981 for $12 million and could see a windfall of more than $600 million should he sell it.
But Sterling was quoted in a recording released Thursday by Radar Online as saying he did not see that he could be forced into such a sale.
‘There’s no playbook’
And Shelly Sterling, a part-owner of the Clippers since 1981, said that it is her legal right to keep the team even if her husband has been banned from the league.
Rivers told the Times he had not spoken to Shelly Sterling since she called to ask if it would be all right to attend a home playoff game last week.
The Clippers play another home playoff game Friday against Oklahoma City in the second round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs.
“That’s her choice,” Rivers said. “She can be a ticket-buyer or whatever.”
“There’s no playbook,” Rivers said. “I think what’s appropriate is what everyone thinks is appropriate. It’s not whether I think it is or not. It’s what the masses think is.
“And that doesn’t mean the masses are right. If we’ve learned anything, the masses can be wrong too. Who knows what’s right in this? We do know what’s wrong in this. We don’t know what’s right.”
Rivers said he has not broached the subject with Clippers players about whether or not they would be uneasy with Sterling’s wife at the helm, saying he was more worried about Oklahoma City stars Russell Westbrook and league scoring champion and NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant.
“I don’t ask. There’s certain things I need to bring up,” Rivers said. “We need to be uneasy about Westbrook and Durant. That’s who we need to be really uneasy about because they’re putting more pressure on us right now.”
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