When a future basketball Hall of Famer was traded to a losing L.A Clippers team in the 1993-1994 NBA season, the NBA fans couldn’t help but wonder why? It was probably because of the billionaire ex-Clippers owner’s influence. The ’90s were truly wild in every sense. The NBA back in the day did not have rigid laws with regard to influencing decisions within the NBA. The relatively wealthy NBA owners took advantage of this loophole in every way possible.

In a recent interview, the NBA Hall of Famer opens up about how and why the $4 billion worth ex-Clippers owner abused his power and manipulated athletes.

Why did the billionaire ex-Clippers owner manipulate athletes?

Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins was at the prime of his career when he got traded to the L.A. Clippers in 1993. The Clippers at the time were not an impressive team as they suffered many losses in the regular season. However, their fans were hopeful for the new young talent that the ex-Clippers owner was able to bring to the team.

In a recent interview with Dominique Wilkins, we get to know more about the dark side of the NBA. The host of the interview says, “You got traded to the Clippers who at that time was owned by Donald Sterling, who later on lost the team because of some racist phone calls.” He then asks Wilkins, “I have heard some weird things about Donald Sterling. The racist undertones and everything. Did anything bother you while playing for Sterling?”

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Wilkins instantly replies, “A lot of things. A lot of things.” He further says, “One of the things I remember end of the year playing against the San Antonio Spurs, Bob Weiss came into the room and told us that we would be taken out after the first 4 minutes of the first quarter of the game.”

Wilkins explained, “Donald Sterling said he want to see David Robinson keep the scoring title in the West, he didn’t want Shaquille O’Neal to get it in the East.” David Robinson went on to score a staggering 71 points in that game against the Clippers.

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Despite being notorious for manipulating the NBA games, nobody ever directly confronted the ex-Clippers billionaire owner.

Donald Sterling’s “racist” phone call controversy

However, things took a drastic turn in Donald Sterling’s NBA journey as an owner when call recordings between him and his rumored girlfriend got leaked on the internet.

The phone recordings start with Donald Sterling raising concerns over his rumored girlfriend hanging out with black people. He went on to call black people words like “minorities” and “enemy.” This led to Donald Sterling eventually having to sell the NBA team to billionaire businessman and investor, Steve Ballmer.

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Despite facing harsh criticism by people from all over the world for his racist remarks, very less is talked about Donald Sterling today. Hi manipulative ways as an NBA team owner may have made him millions of dollars illegally but worse, ruined the lives of potential NBA superstars.