An in-depth look into how the Donald Sterling saga unfolded
For the last month, we’ve been absolved in all things Donald Sterling.
In an excellent piece over at the Los Angeles Times, done by James Rainey whose investigative reporting should been completely lauded, he delivers a play-by-play on how the entire controversy, from the beginning to when the tapes were unleashed up to the point where Sterling attempted to convince Stiviano to lie on his behalf. Here is a recap of Rainey’s piece, whipped into chronological order:
It all began with a typical argument:
"It was close to mid-September, in the NBA off-season, when Sterling, Stiviano and her sister, Lucy Vasquez, were out together in Century City. On the way back to Stiviano’s home, she and Sterling began to argue. Sterling was upset that she had posted a photo on Instagram of herself alongside former Laker Johnson.Stiviano often recorded Sterling on her iPhone, to try to teach him a lesson about how poorly he came across at times, her lawyers would later say."
Time would pass, sixth months to be exact, and Stiviano would eventually be delivered Shelly Sterling’s lawsuit. She’d react by letting one of her closest friend protect a copy of the audio of Sterling’s soon-to-be famous rant.
"Six months later, while relaxing with girlfriends in a VIP lounge at Staples Center, Stiviano was served with Shelly Sterling’s lawsuit. Because of Shelly’s antagonism, Stiviano said, she gave copies of the recording to friends for “safekeeping.” She said she suspects one of them sold it to the gossip site.“Ms. Stiviano vehemently denies having done anything wrong and did not make any threats,” said her attorney Mac Nehoray, who added that at the time his client lost her Clippers privileges, she did not know about the lien on her house."
Following the lawsuit, Donald Sterling would soon sour on Stiviano. What led to the tape being acknowledged was Sterling reneging on tickets for a game, making a Clippers employee inform her that the tickets were unavailable. This was the beginning of the end for DST.
"Stiviano texted that it didn’t matter — another regular had given her tickets. The employee texted back: “Mr. Sterling said to let me know if you need anything. We don’t want to have any issues at the game.”Stiviano responded: “No tell Mr. Sterling that I don’t need anything nor do I want anything…But thanks for asking. LET THE GAMES BEGAN. . . .”Two minutes later, Stiviano sent the employee an audio file."
Of course the Clippers employee would pass on the tape to a higher-up, that guy being then-Clippers president Andy Roeser, who would then inform Sterling of it’s existed. Roeser, as it was revealed a few days ago, would then attempt to get the employee to remove the tape, hoping to cover it all up.
"After Sterling and Roeser spoke, the executive asked the employee to delete the audio and the text messages, Anders said. The employee “at first questioned Mr. Roeser, asking him if he was sure that the employee should delete the files. Mr. Roeser said he was sure,” according to Anders."
Following this incident, TMZ would contact the Clippers for a statement on the matter before releasing the tape. Roeser declined a comment to TMZ. But prior to the release of the tape which was revealed on April 25th, Roeser would warn the recently assigned commissioner of the NBA in Adam Silver that a tape of problematic matter would soon be revealed.
"But late that night, Roeser did call NBA Commissioner Silver, warning him that the recording was likely to go online the next day. At 10 p.m. on Friday, April 25, TMZ put the audio up, under the headline: “L.A. Clippers Owner to GF: Don’t Bring Black People to My Games …Including Magic Johnson.”"
After the release, Donald Sterling would speak with an investigator and refuted all that was said in the interview, saying some of this verbiage was doctored, hoping to cover up for oneself.
"He told Anders that he had expressed a concern about “gangbangers,” not African Americans in general. He added that he knew his companion as “V,” but did not know her last name. He said the release of the recording had to be viewed in context of his wife’s lawsuit against Stiviano and that his companion “had warned him that she would ‘teach him a lesson’ if the litigation was not withdrawn,” Anders’ declaration says."
A few days later, Adam Silver would gain the respect of many as he banned Donald Sterling from the NBA, fined him $2.5 million, and announced that the league would do whatever is in their jurisdiction to remove him from ownership.
Soon the media tour would begin as Stiviano and Sterling would try and clear their name. And prior to an interview with Barbara Walters, Sterling would attempt to convince Stiviano to cover up for the owner during the interview.
"Shortly before being interviewed by ABC’s Barbara Walters on May 2, Stiviano said, she was told by Sterling that she should “falsely state to the NBA that the voice on the recording was not Mr. Sterling’s.” He wanted her to say she’d altered the audio and lied to the league about the whole incident, the NBA’s lead investigator said.The Clippers owner also proposed to make Shelly Sterling’s lawsuit go away: Stiviano should “pay the full value of the claim asserted in the lawsuit,” said Anders’ statement, and Sterling would “return the value of that payment to Ms. Stiviano through back channels.”Stiviano said she responded by asking her lawyers to join the pair, then asked Sterling to restate his requests. At that point, Sterling “became extremely upset, and subsequently left.”"
The last domino would fall with Andy Roeser being removed as team president.
"In the following days, a deputy NBA commissioner flew to L.A. to reassure the team and other Clippers employees and make a grief counselor available. Silver said he placed Roeser on an indefinite leave after “multiple team employees” said they no longer wanted to work with their boss."
He would be replaced by Dick Parsons, the former CEO of Time Warner.
Based on all of the above information, it makes it harder and harder to figure out a way that Sterling escapes this and remains the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Now we just wait as the NBA is taking the proper steps to being the process.