Top Clippers exec Roeser taking leave of absence

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LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Roeser is taking an indefinite leave of absence while
the NBA restructures the franchise in the wake of owner Donald Sterling’s lifetime ban.
Roeser’s immediate departure was announced Tuesday by the NBA. The league announced plans last week to
appoint a CEO to oversee the franchise in Sterling’s absence.
“This will provide an opportunity for a new CEO to begin on a clean slate and for the team to stabilize
under difficult circumstances,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life, fined him $2.5 million and urged owners to force
him to sell the Clippers a week ago, responding to league-wide outrage over racist comments made by the
80-year-old real-estate mogul.
Sterling is the NBA’s longest-tenured owner after buying the Clippers in 1981. Roeser, one of the
Clippers’ alternate governors, is one of the league’s longest-tenured executives, having just completed
his 30th season with the team.
Roeser has been a loyal frontman for Sterling since the franchise’s days in San Diego, and he stood by
Sterling during every controversial stretch of the owner’s career. Only radio and television
play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler has worked for the Clippers longer than the 54-year-old Roeser, who
became team president in 2007.
But Roeser infuriated many longtime Clippers employees last week after Sterling’s private conversation
was made public by TMZ.
While nearly everyone else was reacting with outrage, Roeser released a statement questioning whether the
recordings of Sterling were legitimate, while simultaneously apologizing on Sterling’s behalf for
sentiments about Magic Johnson on the recordings. Roeser’s statement was sympathetic to Sterling and
criticized V. Stiviano, Sterling’s longtime associate and the other voice on the recordings.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Roeser’s statement upset many loyal Clippers employees who had been
horrified by Sterling’s comments. Rivers held meetings with much of the Clippers’ front-office staff
last week while Sterling was ousted, encouraging them to keep working for the franchise.
Roeser joined the organization in 1984 from an accounting firm. Two years later, he became executive vice
president, overseeing all facets of the team’s business operations. He has been president of the Los
Angeles Clippers Foundation since it began in 1994.
He helped bring Rivers to Los Angeles from the Boston Celtics last June, and was part of the acquisition
of All-Star guard Chris Paul in 2011. Roeser also oversaw the development and construction of the team’s
training facility that opened in 2008.
Rivers is the Clippers’ senior vice president of basketball operations, working alongside executive vice
president of player personnel Gary Sacks on the basketball side of the team’s operations.
The Clippers overcame the distraction of Sterling’s banishment to outlast Golden State in a seven-game
first-round series on Saturday night.
After just one day off, they returned to the court and trounced Oklahoma City 122-105 on the road Monday
night in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.

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