Why did it take so long to punish Sterling?

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SALT LAKE CITY — In the end, after countless athletes and other celebrities bombarded social media with congratulatory messages to the NBA, Lisa Guerrero’s question still remains unanswered.

What took so long for the league to take action against a believed racist?

For sure, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made a landmark and appropriate ruling Tuesday, slapping a lifetime suspension and a $2.5 million fine on Donald Sterling. Three days earlier, a tape surfaced of Sterling spewing indefensible racist comments directed at African-Americans.

In light of enormous social pressure, Silver indicated the other 29 franchise owners would seek to force Sterling to sell the Clippers, a team he purchased more than 30 years ago for approximately $12.5 million. Even though the 80-year-old owner stands to make obscene amounts of money in the transaction, the NBA is right to shove him out the door.

But the world deserves a better answer to the question posed by the Inside Edition chief investigative correspondent. As Guerrero stated, Sterling was generally known as a man of questionable character throughout much of his tenure as an NBA owner.

In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination. Allegedly he said, “Black tenants smell and attract vermin.”

Three years later, he reportedly paid $2.7 million in a Justice Department suit on charges of discrimination against minorities. Also in 2009, former Clippers executive and NBA legend Elgin Baylor sued Sterling for employment discrimination based on age and race.

During the case, which he won, Sterling was reported to have said: “I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor black players.” The list of past outrageous actions goes on, but you get the point.

And in the time since Sterling’s latest transgression became public and before the suspension, there have been numerous reports of other misconduct.

And yet the NBA waited and waited.

To recap, here’s what Guerrero asked after Silver’s opening statement: “The word you used specifically was outraged. You said you were personally outraged. Yet many people believe that they are outraged that for years people have known that this man is a racist (and) slumlord, and the NBA hasn’t done anything until today. Can you please answer why?”

Silver’s response: “I can’t speak to past actions other than to say that when specific evidence was brought to the NBA, we acted.”

Still in the honeymoon phase after replacing David Stern as commissioner, Silver can’t be held solely accountable for the NBA’s lack of action against Sterling. But his lawyer-speak left something to be desired.

It would have been nice if he had said maybe the league should have gone after Sterling years before. To a degree, even as the NBA came down strong, it could be argued that public outrage forced the issue.

I can't speak to past actions other than to say that when specific evidence was brought to the NBA, we acted.

–Adam Silver

The same goes for NBA players, who rushed to speak out once the story hit home. What took so long to get to the party?

“Obviously we’ve heard stuff,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said during a press conference before Game 5 of his team’s series with the Golden State Warriors.

If Silver hadn’t levied the fine and suspension, reports surfaced that NBA players were prepared to boycott playoff games. Let’s hear it for any NBA player who turned down Sterling’s truckloads of cash because of the owner’s prior disgraceful behavior. Talk about a short list.

As NBA career-scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote in a Time.com column, Sterling “was discriminating against black and Hispanic families for years, preventing them from getting housing. It was public record. We did nothing. Suddenly he says he doesn’t want his girlfriend posing with Magic Johnson on Instagram and we bring out the torches and rope. Shouldn’t we have all called for his resignation back then?”

Please, make no mistake, Abdul-Jabbar rejoiced at Silver’s ruling. As he wrote, “Donald Sterling is the villain of this story. But he’s just a handmaiden to the bigger evil. In our quest for social justice, we shouldn’t lose sight that racism is the true enemy. He’s just another jerk with more money than brains.”

Well said, big fella.

Finally, justice prevailed.