Los Angeles Clippers in silent protest over 'racist remarks'

The Clippers wore their shirts inside-out in the warm-up before Sunday's game

US basketball players have staged a silent protest following reports that their team's owner had been secretly recorded making racist remarks.

The Los Angeles Clippers went through a pre-match routine on Sunday with shirts on inside-out to hide the team's logo.

The National Basketball Association is investigating a report on celebrity news website TMZ that Clippers owner Donald Sterling made the remarks.

Mr Sterling has told TMZ the recording "does not reflect his views".

The Clippers were playing the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Sunday in a crucial NBA play-off but the clash was overshadowed by the recorded comments allegedly made by the 80-year-old tycoon.

The players also wore black wristbands or armbands and all wore black socks with their normal jerseys.

Donald Sterling bought the Los Angeles Clippers in 1981

Mr Sterling did not attend the game.

In the 10-minute audio recording posted online by TMZ, a man, alleged to be Mr Sterling, can be heard criticising a woman for posting photographs of herself with black friends attending Clippers' matches on a social media site.

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you are associating with black people. Do you have to?" the man says.

"The little I ask is not to promote it on that... and not to bring them to my games."

US President Barack Obama, currently on a four-nation tour of South-east Asia, condemned the "ignorant" and "incredibly offensive" remarks.

"When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk," he said.

In a joint statement published on TMZ Sports on Saturday, Mr Sterling and the Clippers said: "We have heard the tape on TMZ. We do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered."

"We do know that the woman on the tape - who we believe released it to TMZ - is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family.

"Mr Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life."