LeBron James: Is he the most powerful athlete in all of sports?

LeBron James goes to the front of the line to speak out on Donald Sterling. Then the NBA cleans up an ugly part of NBA history.

Many NBA fans remember (and would love to forget!) the awful words of Donald Sterling to his mistress that included Magic Johnson that reeked of racism. It came out on a Friday and almost rocked the playoff schedule at the time. Everyone had their opinion (Myself included) on how the situation should be dealt with.

What most people didn’t know at the time was how bad things were going on behind the scenes. That was laid out in full last month on ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast put together by Ramona Shelburne. But who was at the forefront leading the charge for the NBA players?

LeBron James.

https://twitter.com/ESPNLosAngeles/status/1167557608460279808

This is an early but very powerful example of LeBron James’ voice and influence. As stated in the earlier video by Ramona Shelburne, NBA players did not speak out as strongly in that era on issues like this. In less than 24 hours after the audio was leaked LeBron James was quoted the next day that Sterling’s behavior was not welcome after playing in a playoff game with the Miami Heat.

Despite rumors that there would be a boycott of the game, the Clippers did play against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers went on to win the series and are still the last Western Conference team to beat the Warriors in the playoffs.