The Real Problem with Donald Sterling

For shame Donald Sterling! I mean that. Sterling is a racist, and from what I can gather most public reports, a terrible human being. Yet this recent incident, where Sterling made racist remarks to his girlfriend, reveals a much bigger problem to me. In short, the NBA has major problems with racism, and the reaction to Sterling leaves me skeptical that much will change.

Sterling's racism is nothing new, and the NBA hasn't cared!

Sterling has a history of this. One thing I am happy about is that this scandal has brought all of that to light. Sterling has been in multiple lawsuits over discrimination. These aren't distant memories either – they happened in 2006 and 2009. 

In December of 2011, the New Orleans Hornets agreed to trade Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA owners vetoed this. The Hornets then traded Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers. At the time, the Hornets were owned by the NBA. The NBA and the owners of its teams were fine with Donald Sterling – who already had a history of racism at the time – getting one of the league's best players. And let's not act like the Lakers were a largely different team: they play in the same arena as the Clippers. The difference is that the Clippers were a poorly run, perennially losing team, owned by a racist and a jerk. And the NBA was on his side!

On the same note, in 2009 the NBA gave the Clippers the #1 pick. Now, I know this is due to antiquated rules that were made for spurious reasons. That said, twice after Sterling's lawsuits the NBA has gifted him one the most coveted players in the NBA. The retort is of course "well those are the rules!" But that's the point! The NBA's structure has basically said 'Sterling can be a racist, he can be a jerk, but we will still side with him!'

The NBA has Systemic Racism Problems

People are rallying for Silver to respond. They want the players on the Clippers to boycott. All of this misses the larger point: the NBA has systemic issues with its setup. Let's start with a major issue we always discuss, the NBA's requirement of unpaid labor. The NBA has an age limit and basically requires American-born players to enter via the NCAA. The NCAA has ludicrous limits on pay. Case in point, an NCAA athlete is not allowed to earn above market value in a job outside of the NCAA based on their image. Basically, a player isn't allowed to get a raise at a job at McDonalds because the manager admires their dunking abilities. And the NBA is pushing to raise this age limit! Even "entrepreneurs" like Mark Cuban are on board! 

Tangent: I am a Colorado native. The Colorado Avalanche are currently in the NHL playoffs and the big story is Canadian phenom Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon is eighteen years old! Oh yeah, he has ten points in five playoff games, including a game-winning goal. Nathan was being paid to play hockey as early as 16. As a comparison, highly touted basketball phenom Andrew Wiggins (also from Canada) had to spend a year playing for free in the NCAA. There's a pretty obvious difference between hockey and basketball, and the difference in the perceived maturity level of athletes in these two sports is telling.

As I mentioned, the NBA also has a draft that mandates where players play and how much they get paid. And further, the NBA incentivizes players to stay on their current team by allowing teams to pay their players more than the other teams in the league. When people are expecting Chris Paul to leave the Clippers in protest, just know the rules are on the owners’ side. Both the salary rules and the NCAA rules have the same view: the players need to go where we tell them to and play for our amusement. Remember how much flack both LeBron and Dwight got for having the gall to control their own free agency?

A last note here, don't forget that David Stern, the NBA's previous commissioner, added a dress code to the NBA. He wanted to remove the "thug image" some have associated with the NBA. He wasn't as overt as Donald Sterling, but under Stern, the message of 'we don't want to see that kind at our games' was put out as league-wide NBA policy. Sterling's actions are just another blip on a long line of issues the NBA has had with race.

Where are we?

Am I happy that Donald Sterling is getting called out? Of course! His actions have been atrocious. But I am also trepidatious. The NBA's underlying problems with race tend to get ignored, and I feel that Sterling is a scapegoat. This incident allows people (including those in the NBA) to stand up and say "we don't tolerate racism!", while at the same time, the next CBA between the NBA and its players will likely restrict players’ rights even more. I feel that this latest Sterling incident provides a convenient way to ignore a bigger problem.

But I'll be happy if I'm wrong.

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