You have to consider Silver and the extreme viciousness of his reaction. Sterling would be better served to STFU and go full blown legal on the NBA. As you noted, Silver took the NBA down a path of extreme legal jeopardy. If I was an owner, I would be considering terminating Silver by not renewing his contract once it expired.
But we’re talking about Donald Sterling here. Expecting him to keep his mouth shut and stop saying stupid things is like expecting him to stop breathing, which admittedly is going to happen someday in the not too distant future. When it does he’ll stop saying stupid things too, but not before.