Since Mr. Sterling is being forced to divest himself of the Clippers, the NBA is in effect forcing him to cash in the equity of hundreds of millions of dollars that the team has accumulated in the years since he purchased it. The poor baby will then have to pay that dreaded 15% Capital Gains Tax instead of what you and I pay on our paltry earnings.
This "punishment" makes him enough money to make Uncle Scrooge jealous. The problem is this: how do you punish a guy with so much money that no amount of fines can hurt him? Keep him from going to games? Is that all?
Here is my suggestion. The NBA should remove that profit from the transaction. He should have to sell the team back to the NBA at the price he paid, and the NBA will then sell it at market value to Magic Johnson or whomever, and donate the difference to a worthy charity. The NBA would come out smelling like, well if not like a rose, less like a locker room.
The difference of hundreds of millions of dollars will definitely hurt Sterling.
Just my idea. It would never work. Too simple.