Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, has been reported to have made racist comments during a phone call with his girlfriend. This phone call was private, but released to the public.  Sterling has since given sole control and rights of the team to his ex-wife Shelly. Shelly is reportedly selling the Clippers to  a Microsoft billionaire for over two billion dollars.
Everyone has had a racist thought at some point in time, and most of us have probably expressed it.  Fewer people have expressed such things publicly; we choose to express these things privately because that's where we feel most comfortable.  We also feel  free to express our random thoughts to our loved ones, because we trust them. Donald Sterling did the exact same thing.  He was banned from the league for life and given a hefty fine because his loved one had betrayed that trust.  His girlfriend is he one at fault here.  In the phone recording she released to the press, it sounds as if she is deliberately leading him on, goading him to say racist things.  Also, it is against the law to record a conversation without giving due notice that the conversation is being recorded.  It is highly likely that she gave him no such notice, because he would have undoubtedly have planned his words much more carefully if he had known he was recorded.
The punishment which Mr. Sterling was given was also a bit harsh. Make that much more than a bit. Banned for life? For one racist comment? The punishment was given by a newly instated commissioner, eager to find a scapegoat and lay down the law, in order to prove himself more than capable.  Sterling just happened to be that scapegoat.
While racist statements are rude and offensive, sometimes they can't be helped. Donald Sterling should not have said the things he said.  However, he is also a victim of guile and deceit in the form of his mistress, and a victim of an over eager justice seeker, in the form of the new commissioner.