Donald Sterling: Latest Allegations Further Smear Clippers Brand

For those of you wondering why the Los Angeles Clippers had been the laughing stock of the NBA for so long, allow me to present to you Exhibit Q against Donald Sterling.

According to Sports by Brooks, the Clippers' long-time owner—whose day-to-day duties include (in part) developing real estate and denying access to said real estate from minorities—solicited opinions on players and front office personnel from Alexandra Castro, with whom he had an extramarital affair from 1999 until 2002. Castro said as much about her relationship with Sterling in a 2003 statement, which was included as part of the Department of Justice's case against the tycoon in 2009:

"

During our relationship, Mr. Sterling consulted me on issues he was considering almost every day including, among others, whether he should hire Alvin Gentry to coach the Los Angeles Clippers (although I had no experience in such matters), how he should respond to requests by players for the Los Angeles Clippers for increases in their compensation (Mr. Sterling and I often had dinner at the Arena Club with agents for a number of players)…

"

Raymond Hersh, Castro's former attorney, supported her assertions in sworn testimony of his own as part of the case:

"

They had a relationship where she cooked, drove, cleaned, was consulted on remodeling apartments, who went to dinner with agents, who should be hired—she didn’t make the decision, she said, but she was consulted about who to hire in the Clipper organization and what should be done, what he was thinking.

"

Castro's alleged role in Sterling's decision-making process is curious enough on its own, even before you consider Sterling's crass characterization of his relationship with Castro:

"...a prostitute…she was a total freak and a piece of trash…"

"It was purely sex for money, money for sex, sex for money, money for sex.  The girl was providing sex for money."

"I probably didn’t tell my wife...maybe I did something morally wrong.”

Mind you, all of these statements stem from Sterling's 2003 case against Castro, during which he attempted to recoup ownership of a house in Beverly Hills that he willingly transferred to Castro and her mother. Sterling failed to regain title of the property from that lawsuit and, to make matters worse for himself, lost $3 million in the DOJ's federal discrimination case of which his prior statements were a part.

Not that this mess should come as a surprise to Clippers fans or, really, anyone in the L.A. area.  If anything, this latest revelation helps to explain, at least in part, why the Clippers have been so bad for so long, seeing as how their owner had been consulting with someone who had no significant experience in basketball or management on matters of pivotal importance to the franchise.

What's more, "The Donald" has long lived in infamy for his unsavory business practices, particularly his penchant for pinching pennies with the Clips and his refusal to rent to people of color.

Still, the last thing the Clips need is another public relations nightmare, especially after recently severing ties with superfan Darrell Bailey amidst a back-and-forth debacle. 

Then again, there's a reason Clippers fans believe their team is eternally cursed.

And his name is Donald Sterling.

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