LA Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Allegedly Dropped The N-Word When Interviewing A Coach In 1983

Paul Phipps — the general manager of the then-San Diego Clippers from 1982 to 1984 — told author Jeff Pearlman that Sterling dropped a racial slur during a meeting with potential coaching candidate Rollie Massimino in 1983.

After the meeting, Massimino called Phipps in the middle of the night and said:

"I’m sorry, but I’d never work for that son of a bitch. Ever."

"Here’s this guy, and he has this blonde bimbo with him, they have a bottle of champagne, they’re tanked. And Don looks at me and he says, 'I wanna know why you think you can coach these n******.'"

The meeting happened at a gate in LAX before Massimino caught a flight home.

This isn't the first racism controversy involving Sterling.

In 2009 he had to pay a record $2.75 million settlement after allegations that he discriminated against African Americans and Hispanics at his Los Angeles apartment complexes. According to the LA Times, the Justice Department lawyers were had evidence "indicating that African Americans and Hispanics were not desirable tenants and that [Sterling] preferred Korean tenants."

In a 2010 court filing, ex-GM and NBA legend Elgin Baylor claimed that three players (Sam Cassel, Elton Brand, and Corey Maggette) complained to him that Sterling would bring women into the locker room after games and say things like, "Look at those beautiful black bodies."

Baylor also claimed there was a "plantation mentality" in the organization.