( CNN ) -- The National Basketball Association 's strategy for forcing the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers by Donald Sterling hinges on a document the owner signed when he bought the team in 1981 that lays out reasons ownership could be terminated , a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday . Sterling has been banned for life from the team 's day-to-day operations and facilities and was fined $ 2.5 million last week for racist comments that were recorded and posted online late last month . NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has asked the other 29 NBA owners to force Sterling , the longest-tenured owner in the league , to sell the Clippers . The matter is with the Advisory/Finance Committee , which met Wednesday on a conference call . Members discussed the `` termination of Mr. Sterling 's ownership of the team , '' the NBA said in a news release . The committee will meet again next week , the statement said . If the case proceeds to a full vote , 75 % of the owners would have to approve the forced sale . The source told CNN that on several occasions since 1981 Sterling has signed other agreements with the NBA -- some within the past decade -- that contained moral clauses . Sterling 's comments , the source explained , puts the 80-year-old owner in violation of Article 13 ( d ) of the NBA constitution , which states that an owner can lose the team if he fails or refuses to `` fulfill its contractual obligations to the Association , its Members , Players , or any other third party in such a way as to affect the Association or its Members adversly . '' It is unclear what percentage of the team Sterling owns . A family trust owns the Clippers , and his wife , Shelly Sterling , has indicated that she is a co-owner and wants to keep the team . Donald Sterling , a lawyer and billionaire real-estate investor , has not spoken publicly since the celebrity gossip website TMZ posted a 10-minute audio recording in which he chastises a woman for posting pictures on Instagram in which she poses with African-Americans , including basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson . On Tuesday , one of Sterling 's longtime friends , former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda , said the remarks were not surprising . But he had no admiration for the woman who recorded them , V. Stiviano . `` I 've been a friend of that guy 's for 30 years , '' Lasorda said while getting an honorary degree from Northwood University in West Palm Beach , Florida . `` It does n't surprise me that he said those things . And he should n't have said it . He just hurt himself by talking too much and doing things he should n't be doing . '' As for Stiviano ? `` And I do n't wish that girl any bad luck , '' he said , `` but I hope she gets hit with a car . '' Stiviano , through attorney Mac E. Nehoray , has denied leaking the recordings , another of which was posted by the sports website Deadspin . The Clippers play the host Oklahoma City Thunder in the second game of their playoff series Wednesday night . The Clippers lead the best-of-seven matchup 1-0 . Elgin Baylor on Sterling : 'Justice has been served ' Shelly Sterling approves NBA plan for new Clippers CEO .
NBA strategy to include some documents that included morals clauses , source tells CNN . League 's finance committee meets about forcing Sterling to sell team , will meet again next week . Sterling friend Tommy Lasorda says he is not surprised by the owner 's remarks . Comment: