Elgin Baylor lawsuit erred with David Stern reference
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
One of the more provocative allegations in Elgin Baylor’s lawsuit against the Clippers, the NBA and Donald Sterling dealt with a comment allegedly made by Sterling in regard to Danny Manning’s contract negotiations.
Here’s a link to the court filing made on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The comment in question is on page eight:
The NBA and the Clippers used Mr. Baylor to induce African American players to join the Clippers, despite the Clippers’ reputation of being unwilling to fairly treat and compensate African American players and Sterling’s pervasive and ongoing racist attitude as expressed to then NBA player Danny Manning during 1988 contract negotiations with David Stern present, ‘I’m offering a lot of money for a poor Black kid.’
There was one big problem: Stern, the NBA’s commissioner, was not present for that conversation.
Carl Douglas, one of Baylor’s attorneys, acknowledged that when we spoke earlier today, and said that the mention of Stern being present would be deleted in an amended complaint. Douglas called it a typographical error. He said he expected the amended complaint would be filed today.
‘What we’re doing is the legal equivalent of running a retraction,’ he said.
This led to another question: Did this mistake undermine other claims in the lawsuit?
‘No, it doesn’t,’ Douglas said.
The NBA does not comment on pending litigation but the Stern reference in the lawsuit did not go without notice by the league. And the Clippers declined earlier today to comment on the latest development.
The last word --for the moment -- belongs to former Clipper Manning, now an assistant coach with Kansas. He responded to The Times’ request for a comment through the sports information department at Kansas, which responded this afternoon with an email.
‘After forwarding your email, Danny Manning’s comment was, ‘To Donald Sterling’s alleged comment, I knew I wasn’t wealthy but I didn’t think I was poor either.’’
-- Lisa Dillman
