The racist bad guy walks away with a ton of money …

The bad guy will soon be gone forever, as the NBA has started spinning its wheels toward a vote that will force Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling to sell his team.

Sterling may challenge the vote and make the process last longer than the sporting world would like, but at the end of the day, it appears his days are numbered as an NBA owner.

Thank goodness, as there is absolutely no place in society for the rotten, distasteful opinions that Sterling shared during that taped conversation with his girlfriend. His sentiment is outdated by several decades. The outcry since the conversation leaked shows how far we’ve come since the 1950s and ‘60s. But the fact that a story like this is still possible shows that there is much more work to be done to alleviate the racism that plagues our country.

But while most fans and NBA players rejoice and exhale regarding Sterling’s soon-to-be ouster, I have a bit of a different opinion.

I’m not quite as happy about it all. I’m downright upset, to be honest.

Certainly, I’m glad to see Sterling gone, but I think that the way this is all unfolding is truly sad and unfortunate – a situation where there will not be a clear winner and loser in the situation.

Yes, the villain is going to be running away from the game, and that is good for the NBA. But in each of his hands will be bags filled with gobs and gobs of cold, hard cash – money Sterling will profit once he sells the team. I understand that’s how the cookie crumbles in the business world. But to me, it still tastes real bitter.

The Los Angeles Clippers are a gold mine – a team that should be among the elites in the sports world.

For three decades under Sterling’s watch, that never materialized because of his inept decision-making and his affinity for cutting costs in an effort to bypass winning for a profit.

Under Sterling’s leadership, the Clippers have had the lowest winning percentage of any professional sports team (in the four major sports). The Clippers have never won the NBA Championship, nor reached the NBA Finals under Sterling.

Most of the team’s seasons have been wretched – among the bottom of the barrel in the league. Because of the team’s lack of success, the running joke around the league holds that the Clippers have no true fans. They really don’t have too many – the end result of playing in the same city as the Lakers.

Along the way, the others in the NBA have known Sterling’s ways, but no one spoke up to try and push him out the door.

Why?

The longer the sleeping giant stays dormant, the easier it is for the other teams to beat the giant over and over again.

The Clippers have all of the geographical tools to be successful. They have a warm, sunny climate, and a history of lottery picks to stockpile talent.

And because of all of those things, we’ve finally seen the team get its act together for the first time in history in recent years. By drafting Blake Griffin (through the NBA Draft lottery; a product of being a losing team), the Clippers got a star for the next 15 years.

Through the draft, they also selected Eric Gordon, who was showcased, developed and then pitched to the New Orleans Pelicans in a trade package that netted the team Chris Paul – another legitimate NBA superstar.

To keep Paul on board, Sterling did something out of the ordinary, opening up his pockets to bring in elite coach Doc Rivers on board.

So that brings us to the present, and here we are today, living in a world where the Clippers are a legitimate year-in, year-out threat to win the NBA Championship for the foreseeable future.

Sure, Sterling is about to walk out of the door, but he’s doing so at the absolute perfect time. His team is hot, his roster is even hotter and the Lakers are worse than they’ve been in several seasons. Several celebrities, from Magic Johnson to Oprah, have expressed their interest in the bidding, which may be the most competitive in league history.

And all of this money will go straight into Donald Sterling’s pockets.

He bought the team in 1981 for $12.5 million. According to Forbes, the team is worth $575 million today. When on the open market and bidders compete for the prize, the sale will probably go even higher than that. Some reports indicate that the sale could go as high as $1 billion on the open market.

And that’s sad.

This shouldn’t end this way. There should be a better way for justice to be served.

The lifetime ban is great. The $2.5 million fine is a slap on the wrist, but is will be used to help a worthwhile cause. The sale of the team is what’s best for the future of the NBA.

But the bad guy walking out of the door with bags of money under his arms?

That’s just unfortunate.

I wish there was a better way for this story to end.

I guess in the meantime, I can say that I’m cheering for the Los Angeles Clippers to win the NBA Title.

Those players have gone through hell in the past two weeks. If they could power past the hatred and win the championship, that would be a story that we’d talk about for decades to come.