When Blake Griffin’s name was announced as the first overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, it was supposed to be the start of something very special. The Los Angeles Clippers had been long ridiculed as the NBA’s doormat, landed the most electrifying prospect in years. A high-flying, rim-rattling dunk machine, Griffin was expected to usher in a new era, one where the Clippers would finally undo their history of losing and mismanagement.
But what Griffin didn’t realize at the time was that the dysfunction in the dynamic at L.A. ran way deeper than just missed playoff appearances and bad draft picks. Behind the scenes, the Clippers were not just a struggling basketball team. They were a franchise affected by the toxic ownership of Donald Sterling. The lawsuits, the scandals, the whispers about how Sterling ran the organization like an old-school landlord more concerned with his real estate empire than winning games, it was all there. All brewing in the background before Blake Griffin came into the picture.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger on his YouTube channel, when asked before joining the Clippers, what did he search to know what he was walking into, Blake Griffin replied, “Most of the things that came up on Google. I searched the whole franchise and then you know you go down a rabbit hole on Wikipedia, right, you know Donald Sterling’s page and you get to like the section where it talks about lawsuits, and you’re like whoa,” Griffin recalled.
Like this is a… It’s a long list of lawsuits and and things that have been brought against him and at like 19 years old you’re kind of just like all right, well, that sucks,” he said expressing disbelief and disappointment.
Well, if you’re thinking that it was just one or two legal battles, think again. Sterling had been at the center of a staggering number of lawsuits. That ranged from housing discrimination to wrongful termination and beyond. His legal troubles weren’t just a footnote to his tenure as an owner. In fact, they were a defining characteristic of his reign. Let us check out his legal disputes.
The long list of lawsuits
The byproduct of Sterling’s history of scandals and lawsuits was the apparent dysfunction in the franchise. The legal troubles Sterling landed in were not occasional, they were frequent and damning. One of the first and prominent lawsuits that was stamped on him happened in 2003,2006, and 2009.
It was the Housing Discrimination Lawsuit, where Sterling, who made his fortune in real estate, was repeatedly sued for refusing to rent out flats to people from the black and Hispanic communities. In 2006, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against him. In which, he settled ultimately for $2.73 million in 2009.
Then came the Elgin Baylor’s Discrimination Lawsuit in 2009, the former Clippers general manager. Elgin Baylor sued Sterling for wrongful termination. He claimed he was underpaid and subjected to racial discrimination. But to his dismay, Sterling won the lawsuit. After that Sterling was slammed with multiple wrongful discrimination cases by multiple employees citing unfair treatment and uncalled terminations.
After that came the lawsuit that led to Sterling’s downfall. This stemmed from a leaked recording of his racist remarks to his associate, V. Stiviano. The backlash was immediate, with NBA players threatening to boycott. This ultimately led to the NBA banning Sterling for life and forcing the sale of the Clippers.
Even after being banned from the NBA, Sterling attempted to sue the league. There’s more, he also attempted to sue Commissioner Adam Silver, and his wife, Shelly Sterling. In an attempt to block the $2 billion sale of the Clippers to Steve Ballmer. He lost every attempt, marking the official end of his time in the NBA.
Blake Griffin’s time with the Clippers will always be remembered for highlight-reel dunks and intense playoff battles. However, his reflections on the Sterling era serve as a reminder of how one toxic owner can hold an entire franchise back.
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