NBA: Top 10 ‘What ifs’ from the 2010s

8. What if the Donald Sterling tapes never got leaked?

This incident shook the league to its core and gave Adam Silver his first crucial moment as commissioner. He delivered by giving a resounding stand against Sterling, permanently banning him from the league and forcing the sale of the LA Clippers. Let’s say that these disgusting, racially charged remarks had never been made public and that Donald Sterling was still the owner of the Clippers to this day.

With Steve Ballmer never in the fold, the LA Clippers slowly fall into mediocrity as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin age. They never become a model organization, and we never see Chris Paul in Houston, Blake Griffin in Detroit, or the Kawhi-Paul George pairing that we have today.

But more importantly, we never get this landmark moment at the beginning of Adam Silver’s tenure that has since defined the NBA. The fact that he reprimanded Sterling in the hastily and unyielding manner that he did would set the tone for the NBA being a progressive and player-first league.

Who knows, without this maybe the player empowerment movement never happens (for better or for worse) and perhaps the NBA never becomes a league where the players feel comfortable using their platforms to speak their minds on world issues. So while this is a dark moment in NBA history, it likely had widespread impacts that are far greater than basketball.