Former NBA veteran and L.A. Clippers player Marques Johnson is claiming longtime team owner Donald Sterling once directly told him he would "financially ruin him" if he did not settle on his terms on a new contract.
According to BlackSportsOnline.com, Johnson claims he was struggling with the drowning death of his son when he got a call from Sterling in the late 1980's that he thought would be about his boss expressing his condolences. Instead, Johnson alleges Sterling ripped into him about a contract dispute the two were having.
Donald Sterling blasts Magic Johnson
"I had what was really a career-ending neck injury and in 1987, I lost a son in a drowning accident," said Johnson. "An intermediary told me to call Donald because he wanted to reach out and talk to me about a contract dispute. I called Donald up and he told me he was going to ruin me, that he was going to crush me financially, and that I needed to go ahead and settle on his terms if I wanted to have any money left. He talked to me to me like I was a piece of just bat guano."
The 81-year-old Sterling has come under intense fire in recent days after an audio tape of the NBA's longest tenured owner admonishing a girlfriend "not to bring black people to my games" was made public.
Adam Silver bans Donald Sterling
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already imposed a lifetime ban on Sterling and the league is now trying to force him into selling his franchise.
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