Is Donald Sterling the only man in the NBA truly capable of stopping LeBron James?
Word is the four-time league MVP was perhaps leaning toward signing with the Clippers in 2010 free-agency before he came face-to-face with the now disgraced, long-time L.A. franchise owner, prompting him to instead opt for South Beach.
Music mogul David Geffen — who is now rumored to be heading a triumvirate that includes Oprah Winfrey and Larry Ellison who are interested in buying the team — tells ESPN James thought long and hard about joining the Clippers in the summer of his free agency but backed away given Sterling’s shameful reputation.
“The reasons are perfectly clear,” Geffen said of the now two-time champion Miami Heat star completely abandoning the idea of joining the Clippers. The longest tenured owner in the league extreme views became front-and-center last week when a tape emerged where he admonishes a girlfriend not to “bring black people to my games,” even going as far to directly signal out the likes of Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Geffen later told ESPN “the team deserves a better group of owners who want to win. Larry would sooner die than fail. I would sooner die than fail. Larry’s a sportsman. We’ve talked about this for a long time. Between the three of us, we have a good shot.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life and slapped him with a $2.5 million fine earlier this week and is now moving to gain the support of all the league’s remaining owners in forcing his hand at selling the team he has owned since 1981.
Among others rumored to have at least expressed a preliminary interest in acquiring the team are Lakers’ legend and one-time team exec Magic Johnson, hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and boxing champ Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
Meanwhile, James has been among the league’s most vocal players in agreeing the time for Sterling’s NBA run has come and gone.
“We’re fighting to get an owner out of our league who shouldn’t be part of our league,” James told ESPN. “No matter how long it takes, no matter how much money it costs, we need to get him out of here and whoever is associated with him doesn’t belong in our league.”
