--- description: Sports Illustrated’s cover story on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sheds light on the man behind the microphone at the league’s press conferences title: Adam Silver is Serious About Punishing Donald Sterling image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb33d89c91e772d00/69869093cd804d8a70ccafe2/silver.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [NBA](/tag/nba/) ## NBA Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Adam Silver is Serious About Punishing Donald Sterling by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 22, 2014 5:18 PM CUT  Sports Illustrated by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 22, 2014 5:18 PM CUT The NBA commissioner who banned Donald Sterling from the league for life comes into focus thanks to [_Sports Illustrated_’s inside look](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140520/adam-silver-nba-commissioner-donald-sterling/ "undefined") at his upbringing. Diversity, it seems, has always been a part of his background. One of his closest friends growing up, Masawani Jere, is the chief of the Ngoni tribe in an African village in Malawi called Emchakachakeni. The two met in high school in Westchester, N.Y., when Jere’s father was a counselor to Malawi’s United Nations ambassador, _SI_ reports. While Jere’s parents regularly traveled to and from Africa, Silver’s were separated—his father in Manhattan, his mother spending winters in Boca Raton—and the two bonded over being on their own. Though Jere moved back to Malawi in 1986, the two remain close, and when Jere’s son was born, he received a Spalding basketball hoop as a gift from Sterling. The story also cites his other close friend, Regan Orillac. “I’m Irish Catholic,” he said. “\[Maswani\] is African. Adam is Jewish. We were an odd group, but we made a little family.” His upbringing, which was spent mostly alone with these friends while his parents were away, prepped him for his solo act with the NBA. While the league has formally charged Sterling for his racist rants and scheduled a hearing to take place two days before the NBA finals, many are skeptical the punishment will actually be seen through. But Silver tells _SI: “_I know what is appropriate here. I have no doubt.” [_Read More at Sports Illustrated_](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20140520/adam-silver-nba-commissioner-donald-sterling/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/"},"headline":"Adam Silver is Serious About Punishing Donald Sterling","datePublished":"2014-05-22T17:18:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:00:17.173Z","description":"Sports Illustrated’s cover story on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sheds light on the man behind the microphone at the league’s press conferences","url":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/","keywords":["NBA","Sports Illustrated","clippers","donald sterling","Adam Silver","nba finals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb33d89c91e772d00/69869093cd804d8a70ccafe2/silver.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb33d89c91e772d00/69869093cd804d8a70ccafe2/silver.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"silver","caption":"","creditText":"Sports Illustrated","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nba/","name":"NBA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/","name":"Adam Silver is Serious About Punishing Donald Sterling"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"NBA Commissioner Announces Ban and Fine for Donald Sterling","description":"NBA Commissioner Announces Ban and Fine for Donald Sterling","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6JYcG5vn/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-04-29T18:46:27.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6JYcG5vn.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/","duration":"PT4M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/109400/adam-silver-donald-sterling-nba-ban/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```