Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling said during Elgin Baylor's wrongful termination civil trial Tuesday that he didn't know the accomplished basketball pedigree of his former general manager before hiring Baylor as vice president of player personnel in 1986, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
In response to a line of questions concerning Baylor's Hall of Fame playing career from Baylor attorney Carl Douglas, Sterling denied any knowledge of it, according to the Times report.
"I didn't know [about] that," Sterling said, according to the newspaper. "I hired him for $3,000 a month. I didn't really know what his role was. ... He was working in a mail-order company back then."
Sterling also testified Tuesday that Baylor determined his own annual salary and had free rein to do as he pleased with decisions concerning the coaching staff and player transactions, according to the Los Angeles Times report.