Miami Heat player LeBron James has a message for Donald Sterling – or any other owner or player who holds racist views in the sport.
"If you own a team or play for a team, you are a face in a huge [league]," James said. "No one face is bigger than this brand – NBA, NFL, MLB, whatever the case may be. …If you want to say it in your own confinement, go ahead. It can't get to the public."
Sterling has reportedly agreed to allow his wife Shelly to negotiate the franchise's forced sale, though the NBA said, on Friday, it is continuing with plans to hold a June 3 hearing and vote on Sterling's ouster.
James has criticized Sterling's comments - reiterating Friday that Sterling "shouldn't be a part of this league."
"It's very important. We don't want this to linger on in our sport," James said. "It sucks that it happened. The players, the owners and everyone associated with this game, there is no need for it. The quicker it gets done, the quicker we move on."