(CNN) -- Adam Silver has been NBA commissioner for only a few months. A few relatively controversy-free months. Now -- with the longtime owner of a top team alleged to have made racist remarks in a recorded conversation posted on a celebrity-focused website -- Silver is stepping down a new road. Only one owner has been suspended in 68 years. That was Minnesota's Glen Taylor in 2000, when the Timberwolves made a secret deal with a star player to circumvent salary cap rules. The league has never forced an owner to give up his team. Should Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling face either of those punishments for the recording that TMZ.com says is him talking to his girlfriend V. Stiviano?
@highlight
Donald Sterling has never been disciplined by the NBA
@highlight
Only one owner of any of the league's 32 teams has ever been suspended
@highlight
New NBA commissioner says league will conduct a quick investigation
@highlight
Sterling hasn't commented publicly on recording of racist remarks supposedly by him
And a similar record-level fine for the @placeholder owner might not seem like much to the public, since Sterling is worth billions.