Earlier this afternoon in a live news conference, Adam Silver announced he has banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and is fully committed to forcing him to sell his franchise.
Sterling was accused of making racist remarks in tapes leaked to TMZ over the weekend, and many of the league’s players reportedly threatened to boycott tonight’s playoff games had the punishment not met their expectations.
While this story is most certainly not over—not only are the Clippers still playing playoff games but Silver, as Adrian Wojnarowski points out, needs a super majority vote from the other owners to drive Sterling out (he has it, reportedly… all 29 votes, too)—NBA players took to Twitter to celebrate today’s news.
Today is a good day in the NBA, and a major step forward for the game. Check out some of the comments made by NBA players on social media following the announcement.
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Commissioner Silver thank you for protecting our beautiful and powerful league!! Great leader!! #BiggerThanBasketball #StriveForGreatness
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 29, 2014
Former and current NBA players are very happy and satisfied with Commissioner Silver's ruling.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 29, 2014
Way to go, Commissioner Silver! The NBA stands for everybody!
— SHAQ (@SHAQ) April 29, 2014
@nba #AdamSilver thank you for standing up and leading not only in sport, but setting the example for society to follow!
— Isiah Thomas (@iamisiahthomas) April 29, 2014
Commissioner Silver….STRONG…way to take charge and protect our great league.
— THREE (@DwyaneWade) April 29, 2014
'Standing ovation' for Commissioner Silver. Big time decision standing up for the league and it's players. Now, Gotta see it through
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) April 29, 2014
Proud of the #NBA and their handling of the offensive comments made by Sterling. I'm honored to be joining this league and family.
— andrew wiggins (@22wiggins) April 29, 2014
Thank you Commissioner for protecting our League & what it stands for!
— Tyson Chandler (@tysonchandler) April 29, 2014
Good job commissioner silver clean up this stupidity in our society about race this will open up a lot of people's eyes I applaud u
— Gary Payton (@GaryPayton_20) April 29, 2014
Very proud of commissioner Silver for his leadership. Well done Adam!
— grant hill (@realgranthill33) April 29, 2014
Proud of Commissioner Silver and what he did today! Respect him taking a strong stance on such an important issue #zerotolerance
— Harrison Barnes (@hbarnes) April 29, 2014