During his deposition, Sterling was asked about the smoke detectors not working and he said, "So what?"  A jury in LA awarded about $16 million in punitive damages.....The trial judge granted Sterling's motion for new trial....The Judge said Sterling's comments were crude but did not evidence malice at the time of the actual events but were made later.

So, Sterling dodged that bullet.

Donald Trump echoed the sentiments of outrage expressed by many in response to racist remarks allegedly made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, but adding that the woman who recorded the conversation is "the girlfriend from hell."

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, Trump called Sterling's comments "despicable," referencing the 15-minute conversation with then-girlfriend V. Stiviano in which the Clippers owner made several disparaging comments toward African-Americans. However, Trump added that while Sterling's comments deserved punishment, he said the Clippers owner was set-up by his "very bad girlfriend."

"He got set up by a very, very bad girlfriend, let's face it," Trump told "Fox & Friends" of Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

"She's called the girlfriend from hell, but what he said was terrible and despicable and very strong action is going to be taken. There's no question about it," Trump said of Sterling's girlfriend. "She's a terrible human being and he gave horrible answers and disgusting answers".

The NBA received an A+ for racial hiring practices, an A- for gender hiring practices, and an A for an overall grade. The NBA achieved the highest grade for racial hiring practices and overall combined grade in the history of men's professional sport with scores of 96.8 percent and 92.9 percent respectively.

"I think he could be out of it, frankly, based on his actions," Trump said. "He could be pretty much out of it in terms of his whole mentality."

Best comments I've seen were from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

HHe's not banned for life for the tape...he was banned by the league to protect their profits and brand and appease their workforce and customers.  No McCarthyism to see here.  

I'm guessing he has lawyers and accountants who have been devoted to finding ways to minimize the present and future tax bills, including the consequences of selling the team during his lifetime.

I have a couple problems with the article you linked to on the tax consequences of a forced sale and/or still owning the team at his death.  First of all, "the government" doesn't decide on the value of the team in Sterling's estate - the estate has an appraisal done (and it would be a doozy), and reports the value on the estate tax return.  That value can be challenged by the government - and you can be sure it would be, unless - and this is something else the article left out - he's married at the time of his death and has the ability - depending on the terms of his Will - to shelter his entire estate from taxation.  And of course, no one knows what Sterling's estate plan is - which is the real problem with "back of the envelope" calculations.

Second, unless he directs the team be sold, there's nothing that says it would be sold at his death; that would be a decision for his estate's representatives, in accordance with the terms of the Will.

"The heirs" don't owe any taxes - that's the estate's obligation, unless the team is held by a trust, and the Will specifies that the estate is responsible only for taxes on assets passing under the Will - in that case, the taxes would be an obligation of the trust(s).

The bottom line here is that, yes, Sterling may care about the tax consequences of the various scenarios that are possible - but anyone who thinks he hasn't considered all of these possibilities, or that he doesn't have what amounts to a team of lawyers/accountants revising and updating those possibilities on an ongoing basis, doesn't know much about how hard the wealthy work to stay that way.

The players and coaches can refuse to play for him.  The NBA can agree to let Clippers player move to other teams.  The NBA can decide to forfeit all Clippers games--next year.

So, Sterling can agree to sell now or have a team worth bupkis in few months...And Sterling could realize gazillions of dollars in profits from a sale.