It’s pretty customary for a Knicks game to be thoroughly overshadowed by off-court events, though on the occasion of their visit to the Staples Center’s weaker tenants, this time it’s all about the other team. More than 4 months after being relieved of his G.M. duties, Elgin Baylor (above) has filed suit against Clippers owner Donald Sterling, charging one of professional sports’ more notorious despots with age and race discrimination.  From the LA Daily News’ Ramona Shelburne :

The lawsuit maintains that Baylor was “discriminated against and unceremoniously released from his position with the team on account of his age and his race” and that he was “grossly underpaid during his tenure with the Clippers, never earning more than $350,000 per year, when compared with the compensation scheme for general managers employed by every other team in the NBA.”

When reached on his cellphone Wednesday night, Baylor said that his attorneys had advised him not to speak on the matter until Thursday morning.

Douglas said that he had been trying to reach an informal settlement with the Clippers for months, but “those talks proved unsuccessful, so we were left with no alternative but to file a lawsuit.”

Baylor was 74 years old at the time of his firing. This isn’t the first time Sterling’s been labeled a racist in connection with a legal matter ; in 2006 Sterling was sued by the Department Of Justice for refusing to rent Beverly Hills properties to black families.  In 2005, Sterling was compelled to pay $5 million in plantiffs’ legal fees as part of a 2003 suit claiming the real estate magnate tried to force Black and Latino renters from his Koreatown apartments.