Clippers Protest Donald Sterling Before Game 4 As Other Notables Respond

Before the Los Angeles Clippers tipped off against the Golden State Warriors today, they had undergone a team meeting about possibly boycotting the game in light of owner Donald Sterling‘s alleged comments captured by TMZ and further audio revealed by Deadspin. Instead, they’re playing — which is brave in its own right — and revealed their own form of protest before the game.

The entire Clippers took off their jackets and placed them at mid-court during warm-ups before Game 4 at Oracle Arena. They revealed team t-shirts that had been turned backwards (for Sterling’s alleged backward thinking) and inside out so the team’s logo and name were not visible. They Clippers are playing for each other and their coach today, NOT for their owner.

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Find out how the Clippers, Magic, LeBron, Kobe, President Barack Obama and others responded to the purported Sterling audio…

The Clippers players met Saturday night about possibly boycotting today’s game, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.

Captain Chris Paul, who is also the head of the Player’s Union issued a statement yesterday about Sterling’s still-unproven comments:

“On behalf of the National Basketball Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively. We have asked Mayor Kevin Johnson to expand his responsibilities with the NBPA, to determine our response and our next steps. As players, we owe it to our teams and our fans to keep our focus on our game, the playoffs, and a drive to the Finals.”

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan posted a black image without a caption on his IG as his own form of a protest.

According to ESPN Los Angeles, Doc Rivers said of the team in light ;f Sterling’s purported comments:

“A lot of guys voiced their opinions, none of them were happy about it. It has an impact and you move on. It upsets all of us. There’s not one guy that’s happy with this situation. … We’re playing and we’re playing Golden State and Golden State is our enemy now. [Sterling and I] have not [talked] and we have not tried honestly. We don’t need a talk, alright. We don’t need that.”

Magic Johnson responded to his inclusion in the audio on ESPN’s NBA Countdown pre-game show before Game 4 today:

Michael Jordan also spoke out about Sterling’s supposed comments:

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President Barack Obama spoke about Sterling’s alleged comments during a speech in Malaysia yesterday:

With respect to the statements by the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers — for our Malaysian audience, this is a sports team, basketball team in the United States. The owner is reported to have said some incredibly offensive racist statements that were published. I don’t think I have to interpret those statements for you; they kind of speak for themselves. When people — when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk. And that’s what happened here.

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and many others have already spoken about not wanting to play for Sterling, and most agree he should be gone if the comments are authentic.

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Stephen Jackson, who played briefly for the Clippers earlier this season, said in an IG post that he’s glad he got cut:

Adam Silver, in his press conference yesterday, said the NBA’s investigation will hopefully be concluded before Game 5 in Los Angeles on Tuesday and that Sterling had agreed not to attend today’s Game 4.

The women in the recordings claiming to include Sterling, former concubine V. Stiviano, issued a statement through her lawyer that stated the tapes were “legitimate.” The statement also added that the recordings came from approximately an hour’s worth of a conversation and that Stiviano did not leak them to the media.

(video via cjzerovids)

What do you think?

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