People are missing the obvious here.

Link to the recording in case you haven't heard it yet

It's obvious this V.Stiviano woman set him up. She recorded this conversation and then dispersed it to TMZ on purpose. Pretty nasty stuff. Sterling is a wretched ugly old man, as rich as King Midas, but hideous. She used him for money and I don't think there's anyone anywhere who will doubt that.

Then Sterling reveals his racism by (paraphrasing) saying "I don't care if you bang black dudes, Magic Johnson in particular, who is HIV positive, but have the 'decency' to not broadcast it on Instagram so my wealthy peers don't give me grief".

My read on it is that Sterling's estranged wife was applying pressure to Sterling, possibly the one monitoring the GF's Instagram and busting his balls about it - "Ah so your GF is fucking Magic Johnson, huh lolz". Now the estranged wife is levying an embezzlement charge against the GF.

Now that this Stiviano woman is out of the picture, she drops the bomb. She knew it would come to an eventual end because it wasn't a real relationship, so she records this conversation in order to leverage a pay day on her way out. Make no mistake she fished him for the commentary she wanted.

Sterling, for all the wealth he has, has got 99 problems and they're all female related.

Meanwhile, the die has been cast here. Sterling is now being pressured to sell the Clippers, the wife is suing the GF, and this Stiviano women will never, ever have a sugar daddy again. She Can't Understand Normal Thinking apparently - that and she probably is HIV positive now from guzzling Magic Johnson's chode (who knows if she really fucked him or not, but Sterling is acting like there's something going on).

The woman has clammed up now.

Recording someone covertly in California is a crime

Also, it could be considered slanderous, too. This has obviously cratered Sterling's reputation. One would have to think that he is not a total racist douchebag to own an NBA team and commonly invite black people into his home, but pulling back the layers yeah - it's a sore spot for Sterling knowing that black dudes are fucking the shit out of his gold-digging whore girlfriend. That's racist, sure, but it also speaks to the man's own insecurities.

So I don't know as to what extent the threat of legal entanglement is hanging over her, but obviously that threat is CLEARLY in play.

Going back to the dialogue, as blue pill as he is, he communicates to her it's a deal breaker. She points out to him that she is part black and in a weird way is like "What if it was Larry Bird?" as to say "What it's only OK to see me out slutting around with white dudes, but not black dudes?"

This woman's hamster is on overdrive. It's not OK to be slutting around with anyone, white or black, because either way it's still cuckoldry.

Obama chimed in and called Sterling ignorant. I think Sterling's ignorance is mainly a blue pill ignorance for being harmed by two selfish females (estranged wife and GF) who are fighting over access to his money. He has the clear advantage of accumulated resources, but still could not regulate these women. He let himself be caught out.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that I don't condone racism. Sterling was getting tripped out over any black dude - even Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson - comes off to me like a sexual insecurity laced with racism.