Donald Sterling: ‘I Don’t Profess to Know Anything About Basketball’

Despite his considerable shortcomings as an NBA team owner and, um, human being in general, you gotta give Donald Sterling this: he keeps it 100% real, all the time. The latest, via the LA Times: “Clippers owner Donald Sterling testified Tuesday about his past deep loyalty and trust for former executive Elgin Baylor despite an admission by the owner that he wasn’t completely clear about the NBA legend he appointed vice president of player personnel in 1986. ‘You didn’t know about his basketball career?’ Baylor attorney Carl Douglas asked Sterling in his first day on the stand as Baylor’s wrongful termination civil lawsuit against the team continued at a Los Angeles courthouse. ‘His accomplishments? The Hall of Fame?’ ‘No,’ Sterling answered. ‘I didn’t know that. I hired him for $3,000 a month. I didn’t really know what his role was … He was working in a mail-order company back then.’ … When asked about a Baylor predecessor, Sterling said the name Carl Scheer ‘sounds familiar.’ He added, ‘I don’t profess to know anything about basketball. I’m a professional lawyer.’ As for what he recalls about Baylor taking over basketball matters, the owner said, ‘[Baylor] … ultimately made $500,000 a year. Somewhere in between, he assumed that role.'”