According to a new report by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, former NBA player and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson is interested in leading a group to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers.
Magic Johnson is the ultimate cleanser in sports, and steering a Clippers sale to him could be transformative for the franchise. Truth be told, it could change the balance of basketball power in Los Angeles forever.
To keep Doc Rivers as president and coach, to hold together the core of a championship contender and keep building it, Magic can make it happen.
Wojnarowski is obviously referencing the scandal that is clouding the Clippers playoff series against the Golden State Warriors. On the heels of Donald Sterling’s racist comments, which were first reported by TMZ late last week, the NBA is conducting an internal investigation on the matter. Commissioner Adam Silver has indicated he wants a quick resolution to the situation, likely with some sort of punishment being handed down to Sterling.
For his part, Johnson is a big player in this controversy. Sterling’s comments came after he saw a photo of his girlfriend with Magic on Instagram. Since those comments have been made public, Johnson has indicated a couple different things through social media, one such comment standing out above all the others.
Johnson is one of the most respected individuals in the professional sports world and him somehow being able to purchase the Clippers would be one of the most dramatic ownership changes in the history of the four major sports.
On the other hand, if Sterling is just handed a slap on the wrist and remains the Clippers owner, there are going to be major ramifications once the playoffs come to a hault. As evidenced by the players’ quiet protest in Oakland on Sunday, they’re not going to let it go anytime soon, if at all. And for good reason.
The Sterling situation is far beyond the pervue of the sports world. It reaches into our collective consciousness as a nation and a people. It transcends the sports world and represents that race relations in this nation might not be where some of us thought it was.
It’s hard to imagine Doc Rivers being able to coexist with Sterling moving forward. In addition to that, potential free-agent targets in the future have mentioned that they’re not interested in playing for Sterling, LeBron James included. This doesn’t even take into account the near dozen NBA draft prospects that have indicated that they don’t want to be drafted a a Sterling-led Clippers organization.
Then you have the big players on the roster, including NBPA president Chris Paul, who is involved in this situation more so than any other player in the league. As the leader of the union and a captain of the Clippers, Paul’s actions are something to watch moving forward. It wouldn’t surprise anyone involved to see him demand a trade should Sterling remain owner. This doesn’t even take into account Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, among others.
If Johnson is able to take over ownership of the Clippers, everything changes. What is now one of the biggest scandels to hit the sport in decades would then become a story of yet another minority owner in the NBA. Just think about the damage control that would bring with it. In a more important point, Johnson would be a stellar owner for the up-and-coming franchise.
Let’s all hope this happens. The Clippers deserve it. Magic deserves it. Fans in Southern California deserve it. Donald Sterling deserves it.
Photo: Huffington Post