Silver takes heat for faulty AC, Sterling saga near end

SAN ANTONIO— It has been a tumultuous four months on the job for NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who has had to ban Donald Sterling for life, deal with a Sterling lawsuit resulting from that decision and help broker the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for a shockingly high price.

The one issue he feels was the most difficult to face? A broken circuit breaker at the AT&T Center here that caused the air conditioning to fail, almost ruining Game 1 of the NBA final and leaving LeBron James, the most recognizable player in the game, wracked with pain, unable to play or move.

“I would say that it’s certainly not one of my prouder moments in my short tenure as commissioner so far, but it’s the nature of this game,” Silver said during his state-of-the-NBA news conference.

“There always are going to be hu- man and mechanical errors and it’s unfortunate.” Silver said league officials were notified minutes before tipoff that there was an issue with one of the four main air conditioning units at the 19,000-seat facility. It wasn’t until halftime that AT&T Center officials notified the league that the problem would not be solved. “I’ve been with the league office for more than 22 years now,” said Silver. “I’ve never dealt with a situation like that before.” Meanwhile, Silver did say the Sterling saga is about wrapped up and new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer should get board of governors approval by mid-July at the latest. Donald Sterling has sued the NBA and Silver after being banned for life and fined $2.5 million, and Sterling hasn’t signed the sale agreement — although Silver said he doesn’t have to: “Donald was found incapacitated and unable to sign on his own be- half.”

While Sterling’s wife Shelly has indemnified the league in that lawsuit as she sells the team to Ballmer for $2 billion — effectively absolving the league of all responsibility — until that suit is done with, the Sterling saga won’t be officially over.

The commissioner added that “there is absolutely no possibility that the lifetime ban will be rescinded or that the fine will be changed in any way.”