Front page of Clippers website today[/caption]

Reaction is pouring in from athletes, journalists, bloggers and tweeters about NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s breaking taking imposition of consquences on Clippers owner Donald Sterling for Sterling’s racist comments captured on tape: suspension for life from the NBC, a $2.5 million fine and requesting NBA team owners vote to force a sale. Read the full transcript of his comments here. One thing is certain: with his no-nonsense dead-serious action, no one will confuse Adam Silver with Adam Sandler.

Sterling has already told a Fox News reporter the team is not for sale:

Moments before NBA commissioner announced that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling had been banned for life from the league, Sterling spoke on the phone with Fox News contributor and veteran sportscaster Jim Gray. Sterling’s message to Gray: the Clippers are not for sale.

“I just spoke with Donald Sterling on the telephone just moments ago,” Gray said on Fox News’ “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson” a few minutes before Silver made his announcement. “He is unaware of what is going to happen to him. He has not been notified. He also said that he really didn’t want to comment on the record. However, the team is not for sale and he will not be selling the team.”

Here’s a cross section of reaction:

The Nation’s Joan Walsh:

In the end it likely came down to money, not morality. Donald Sterling’s racism had already cost the Los Angeles Clippers a dozen sponsors, Coach Doc Rivers had already made it known he would not return to the team next year, and more trouble was coming. But NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought a tone of moral outrage in delivering the toughest judgment possible against Sterling Tuesday afternoon: banning him for life from any involvement with the team and the NBA, fining him the maximum $2.5 million and urging NBA owners (the only ones with the power) to force a sale. “I fully expect to get the support I need to from other owners to remove him,” Silver declared.

It was a satisfying moment: Rarely do we see racists get such a quick comeuppance. Silver seemed genuinely, personally aggrieved by Sterling’s disgusting comments about African-Americans in a league that runs on black labor, talent and fandom. He praised great black NBA pioneers including Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, Sweetwater Clifton and “the great Bill Russell.” His quick, tough action earned him praise from NBA Players Association advisor Kevin Johnson, also the mayor of Sacramento. “Today the players believe the commissioner has done his duty,” Johnson declared in a press conference following Silver’s announcement. “He is not just the owners’ commissioner, he is also the players’ commissioner.”

Still, Silver’s tough sanctions against Sterling can’t erase the fact that the NBA did nothing about earlier allegations of Sterling’s racism and ignored his ugly off the court behavior as a slumlord repeatedly charged with discriminating against black and Latino tenants.

Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff:

I find myself agreeing with Bill Maher, who wrote of the private remarks that got Sterling into trouble: “Sterling def[initely] a racist, but take away his team? Clippers shldn’t have played yesterday? Calm down, being [a jerk] is still legal.” I guess Maher didn’t call his old show “Politically Incorrect” for nothing.

To make matters worse, I find myself agreeing with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. He warned that that NBA should be “very, very careful” in judging “what people say and think, as opposed to what they do.” What a quaint distinction.

In theory, at least, Americans still have the right to hold offensive and even racist opinions, and to express them in private (or in public for that matter). To strip Sterling of his ability to control, or even to participate, in his own business and to impose a massive fine for private statements expressing a degree of racial prejudice strikes me as offensive and dangerous.

To be sure, the NBA needs to protect its business (or its “brand,” to use the current jargon). Accordingly, it needed to take some action against Sterling. But declining to impose the draconian measures Silver came up with would not have hurt the NBA. If Silver had opted for fairer, less severe penalties, players would have continued to play and fans would have continued to watch. Show me the player who would have forfeited part of his paycheck if, for example, Sterling had been suspended for half a season.

—Doug Mataconis:

In order to force Sterling to sell the team, three-quarters of the owners of the remaining NBA teams would need to vote in favor of forcing the sale. Silver didn’t say whether he’d polled the other owners on this possibility, but he did say that he’d talk with several of them and that they supported his decision to ban and fine Sterling. The question now is how the owners will vote, keeping in mind the probability that many of them will at least be thinking about the possibility that this extraordinary tool could be used against them at some point in the future. When you get right down to it, though, the outrage against Sterling’s remarks have been so swift and severe that his complete removal from the league would seem to be in the best interests of the NBA and, in the end, that’s likely what they’ll be most concerned about.

There may not be a quick end to this story, though. Sterling has a reputation in the business world as someone who can be quite litigious in business disputes and he could end up using the courts to drag this out as long as possible. Alternatively, perhaps he’ll just be happy to take the handsome sum he’s likely to get when he sells the team and fade away.

Satirist Andy Borowitz:

LOS ANGELES (The Borowitz Report) — After being banned by the N.B.A. Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling told reporters that he would miss being around people he hates.

“Sure, I’m saddened by this,” Sterling said. “Sitting in the stands night after night, a boiling cauldron of hatred bubbling inside me—it doesn’t get better than that. Those were good times.”

“Knowing that I’ll never be able to sit in that arena again and look down on the people I despise—that hurts the most,” he said.

The Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh:

If secret recordings of his racist views released this week stripped Donald Sterling of his personal dignity, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday took away everything else that mattered to the disgraced Clippers owner.

Bravo, Mr. Commissioner. The easy decision also happened to be the right one and the NBA will benefit as much as society. In a move as strong as it was swift, the newest commissioner among major sports leagues emerged as the boldest when Silver imposed a lifetime ban on Sterling and fined the exposed bigot $2.5 million – the harshest penalty ever issued by the NBA. The most progressive league in professional sports needed this.

Additionally, Silver announced plans to strongly urge the NBA Board of Governors to exercise its authority to force the billionaire to sell the Clippers. It seems unlikely that Silver would include that final step as part of the punishment if he didn’t feel confident three-fourths of the NBA owners wouldn’t approve it as the by-laws require.

“I fully expect to get the support I need from other owners to remove (Sterling),’’ Silver said at a New York City news conference.

Enough momentum among ownership exists that some league observers predict unanimous approval, even if early reports say Sterling insists the Clippers aren’t for sale.

SFGate blog:

Donald Sterling isn’t completely out as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, but he’s well on his way. In the first moment of truth for an NBA commissioner only three months on the job, Adam Silver came through splendidly today.

Sterling has been banned for life, and it’s an all-encompassing ban. As Silver explained in his news conference, “I am banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA. He may not attend any NBA games or practices. He may not be present at any Clippers facility and may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team.”

In other words, he’s gone. He hasn’t sold the team, and that’s an important distinction, but he won’t be visible to the Clippers’ players or anyone in the organization in an official capacity. Silver made this decision within a matter of days since Sterling’s voice appeared on that disturbing audiotape. He acted quickly and decisively, exacting what appears to be the maximum punishment at this stage of the process.

While it was widely assumed that Silver’s investigation is ongoing, he announced that it is “complete.” He noted having personally interviewed Sterling, who admitted that it was his voice on the tape (while offering nothing else in the way of opinion, reaction or complaint, Silver said). And although every report indicated $1 million as the maximum fine under NBA jurisdiction, Silver said Sterling has been fined $2.5 million, the funds to be donated to groups “dedicated to anti-discrimination efforts.”

Like all able commissioners, Silver can gauge the result of a crucial ownership before it takes place. He wouldn’t have spoken so strongly today if he wasn’t certain of getting the three-fourths vote of approval from the NBA Board of Governors to remove Sterling as an owner. Silver has given them the opportunity to remove one of their own, and let’s hope those votes become public. I can’t imagine any owner wanting to be associated with support for Sterling.

Forbes’ Tom Van Riper:

The downward spiral for Donald Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t take long. It’s been fast and furious, in the wake of his secretly recorded comments to girlfriend V. Stiviano about not approving her habits of posting Instagram photos or going to Clipper games with black friends.

Silver had little choice but to come down hard, given the punitive hysteria in the air since the controversy surfaced on Sunday. First the media brought out the instant hammer. Most all articles or TV reports concluded that there’s simply no place in the NBA for Sterling, while proclaiming Silver’s response as a decision that would go down as the defining moment of his tenure as commissioner, even though he’s held the job for less than three months.

The game’s legends – Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley – quickly weighed in with their condemnations. And then came the flight of the frightened sponsors, who began bailing over the past couple of days. Kia Motors , CarMax KMX +1.18%, State Farm (which has a big campaign built around Clippers’ star Chris Paul) and several others have announced breakups or suspensions of their relationships with the Clippers. When sponsors start bailing, the commissioner has little choice but to take strong action. Business is business. It’s bad enough that the controversy has detracted from the action on the court during the playoffs.

There’s no defending Sterling’s comments, which were not only racist but downright bizarre, especially since the recipient, Stiviano, is a minority herself. It’s just a shame that outrage over people’s character flaws, including those involving race, aren’t distributed evenly across the spectrum.

Take Larry Johnson, the former NBA player who is now a New York Knicks’ executive. His recent reaction to the Sterling fiasco: a call for an all-black professional basketball league, players and owners alike. Yes, segregation. The basketball equivalent of professional baseball turning back the clock to 1946, tossing aside Jackie Robinson’s achievement, and reverting to the days of separate leagues for black and white players. Yet there aren’t any reports of sponsors severing ties with the Knicks. Apparently, while there’s no place in today’s NBA for Sterling, there is a place for Johnson.

Then there’s Al Sharpton, reportedly planning a protest at L.A.’s Staples Center, who has previously referred to white people showing up in New York’s traditionally black neighborhoods as “interlopers,” not unlike Sterling’s apparent take on his girlfriend’s black guests showing up at his arena

Unfogged:

The NBA has banned Donald Sterling for life. A bit of backstory for those who don’t follow the league: the commissioner, Adam Silver, has been on the job all of two months, replacing David Stern (Jews, they run everything), who was commish for approximately forever, popular (mostly), very powerful, and very successful in making the league a big business. This was Silver’s first major challenge, and amid a lot of wondering about what the NBA could actually do to Sterling, Silver decided, quite a lot. Good for him.

Just spoke w/ NBA comm. Adam Silver & he has agreed to meet w/civil rights leaders and me on where we go from here after his bold step today

— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) April 29, 2014

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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