It's different from the standpoint of the nba league office needin to react strongly lest they appear racially insensitive. I agree this is different than the other sterling stuff. But it's not different from an I'm Doc Rivers and I'm knowingly employed by a unambiguously confirmed racist standpoint. It's not different from a I'm Lebron James and I play in a league with at least one confirmed racist owner standpoint. Sterling was always a confirmed racist since at least the 70s when he called his players n words and this was reported I believe with witnesses at the time. But now, based on my amateur interpretation of the TMZ audio, a very confused potentially senile old man having trouble understanding his own confusing and ignorant thoughts on race. Almost like he feels he needs to maintain an aura of racism that may or may not be there just the same as he will evidently pay 1.8mln to keep an exotic beauty around while explicitly stating he is ok with her privately banging black dudes. It's just a bizarre case. Added in all my concerns about a private conversation being secretly recorded an used against somebody financially. Hard to square how I feel about that. I would feel differently about this if there is some cases about the clippers workplace discrimination in team player coach or administrative positions. However I am not aware of any and certainly the league office has done nothing to highlight these things in the past (Isaiah Thomas James Dolan etc). Hopefully the league will say this "Donald sterling has agreed to step down as chairman of the clippers and the league together with the sterling family will look to resolve his ownership of the team." Just pretend like stepping down as chairman means something.