Heat Players React To Sterling's NBA Ban
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The bombshell exploded Saturday when the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling said racist comments. Seventy-two hours later, Sterling was without a team and faces a $2.5 million fine thanks to Commissioner Adam Silver.
"He didn't waste no time, this is something that they got on something you can tell immediately, right away, and they showed everyone—and not just the players in the NBA—everyone around the world that this is a serious issue," said Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.
Serious to say the least, after a lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine, Sterling is literally a man without a team.
Meanwhile the Clippers Seemed to find new life after the news broke. Winning game 5 of their series with the Warriors to take a 3-2 advantage in front of the hometown fans.
"You think it was just the players, it was the fans too—everybody was going through this, "said Clipper's coach Doc Rivers. "And it was almost like everybody wanted to exhale tonight and it was good."
If there can be a winner from this incident it's Commissioner Silver, who not only acted swiftly, but changed the face of the league overnight.
"At this very moment, it is like I said from a together stand point, as players and as coaches, we all got behind this," said Wade.
"It was big time, like Kevin Johnson said yesterday, he wasn't just a commissioner to the owners, he's a commissioner to players," said LeBron James. "We commend him, but at the same time, the job is still not done."
So in the middle of the NBA playoffs, instead of teams battling each other to advance, players are concerned with another fight—eliminating the waste from their game.
"No matter how long it takes, no matter how much money it costs, we need to get him out of here, whoever is associated with him, doesn't belong in our league," said James.