As bad as the Los Angeles Clippers have been this season, they’re still in a far better place today than they were when Donald Sterling owned the franchise. Under the real estate mogul’s thumb, the Clippers set the bar for futility in the NBA, making the playoffs only six times from 1981 until 2014.
While Sterling’s Clippers struggled on the court, their poor performances were overshadowed by the explosive controversy surrounding the team owner in 2014. This was when an audio recording emerged of Donald making racist remarks to his companion, V. Stiviano.
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In the recording, Sterling could be heard complaining to Stiviano about her association with Black people and about her bringing them to Clippers’ games, as well as posting them on her social media page.
Once word of Donald’s sentiments got out, the NBA and its commissioner, Adam Silver, quickly took decisive action. Silver banned Sterling from the league and fined him $2.5 million. The controversy also sparked a fierce movement among players, coaches, and fans to take a stand against his ownership of the team. This ultimately forced Sterling to sell the Clippers in 2014 for a whopping $2 billion.
Asked for his thoughts on the situation, legendary rapper, actor and avid hoops fan Ice Cube stressed that he has no sympathy for the deposed owner, emphasizing that he deserved every punishment that he received.
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Sterling didn’t deserve to be an owner
Although Cube (O’Shea Jackson Sr.) is one of the biggest fans of the L.A. Lakers, it doesn’t mean he didn’t care about Hollywood’s other team. In fact, he didn’t hold back in criticizing Sterling’s handling of the team, which was a substantial reason why they were the league’s laughingstock for the longest time.
Simply put, Cube didn’t think Sterling was worthy of being an NBA team owner.
“I think he didn’t deserve to own the team. I thought everything he said was pretty hurtful, unnecessary and, really, to me, it was just career suicide that he was committing even if he was unaware of it or not,” Ice Cube said in a conversation with ESPN back in 2015.
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“Just saying those feelings out loud, he had to know he was walking on a tightrope. He got what he deserved — to be ousted — and now somebody else owns the team. I don’t shed any tears because he’s going to be all right,” he added.
Sports have been a unifying force
Professional sports have played a crucial role in bringing people from diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions together. This is especially true in the NBA, where most players are African American. However, this unity was jeopardized by Sterling. Fortunately, the league’s quick action stemmed the tide of negativity and refocused attention on the game itself.
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Cube, who has since founded the popular 3×3 league BIG3, said he can only hope that Sterling was the last of his kind in the NBA.
“It’s a situation where you hope that a person who owns an NBA team is not harboring those kinds of feelings. It’s hard to comprehend someone who makes so much money off black players has those kinds of views,” Ice shared. “You just hope to catch them, weed them out and keep the league going in a positive direction.”
“Sports have been one of the greatest things for race relations in this country. Any time there’s racism somewhere in sports, we should get it out of there because sports xis a place where everything’s supposed to be fair,” he added.
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Fortunately for the Clippers, their next owner, Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, is as energetic and passionate as they come. He has demonstrated a commitment to elevating the Clippers to new heights, as evidenced by the construction of their own arena, the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome, and a powerhouse roster led by James Harden and Kawhi Leonard.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 26, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.