Owner. Our guest, isaiah thomas, joins us with his reaction. And the world lead. A company says it may have done what nobody else was able to do, find flight 370. Just one problem, of course, its thousands of miles from the current search area. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Well begin with the national lead, from the gulf to the great looks, 75 million americans are currently in the path of a tornado spawning Severe Weather system. I dont mean like a, oh, no, did i leave my car windows down kind of storm. Its more like i hope my car is still on the ground in one piece kind of storm. This could be heading your way in the next couple hours. This massive tornado inflicted widespread damage in louisville, mississippi. One of dozens of tornados unleashed by the storm system, the same storm system that killed 31 people from sunday. Far from finished, its now reloaded and ready for round three. Some of those got hit yesterday by the same system. Two people died when storms leveled a chunk of athens alabama and two hours north of there, 21yearold swimmer from tuscaloosa was killed. The University Website has a tribute to him on his home page. Chad myers is in aberdeen, close to the border. How are conditions there . Reporter very moist and just steamy here. This is tornado weather. The only thing i think were missing is wind. Theres not a lot of inflow but the storms just going up, jake. Over my shoulder the base of one of the first thunderstorms of the day. See how the dark and the light mix, dark on the top and light on the bottom . The dark part on the top is a cloud going up higher and higher. We are here on this road. Because this is where the storms are going to fire. One after another. And there will be likely many tornadoes on the ground today more than one and even at the same time, i believe what i was looking at radar, i could see six separate for sure meso scale, meso cyclone tornadoes on the ground at the same moment around 10 00 last night. This is not just a daytime event, its a night time event. The problem, when you get a storm like 2 below and back toward meridian, you get the next day its fine. The storm comes by one time. Today the air mass reload and the same people ho had storms yesterday could have more storms, more tornadoes, tonight. Chad we just saw two cars drive by behind you while you were talking. How bad do you expect it to get in the coming hours and has the local population taken cover appropriately . Reporter when you go into the cafes, and go into the quick shops. Everybody knows. They seem a little cnn on your shirt, they go, why are you here . I said, well, why do you think . They said dont tell me theyre coming here. Because they know. Everybody is here, everybody has already seen what two day, two and a half days of tornadoes has done off to the west of here and south of here. They know theyre next in line and ready for it. Can you ever get prepared . Yes. You can be prepared when the sirens go off. Already have a plan much dont try to make a plan when you know the tornado is coming. You have to know what to do before it gets there. Chad, you have so much Institutional Knowledge when it comes to these storm systems. How much does this remind you of the massive tornado damage in that region. Nearly three years ago almost to the very day. Reporter you know, we drove down from tupelo, to aberdeen and along the highway. As i drove by. I said that town looks just like greenville in kansas. Something happened here. And when we looked it up it was smithville. It didnt register, because it was a small down but an f5 tornado drove through that town. I could tell it had been hit by a tornado. There were no trees, all the homes were brandnew yet it was an oldish village. Stripped much all of the trees. This is tornado central. And it reminds me. Its a little less humid than that day. Lets go down the road where the lights are coming from from that car there. You see theres a separation from the light and the dark. Thats the next storm come. Thats already 30,000 feet high. Thats six miles in the sky and still building. The higher they are, the more severe they are. The ones last night, 55,000 feet tall, 11 miles in the sky. Chad meyer, thank you so much, my friend. Stay safe. This terrifying weather is no doubt bringing back awful memories for the people of birmingham, tuscaloosa. Nearly three years ago today. E i ef 4. Can you tell us what conditions are right now . Its similar to what we experienced three years ago. Coming off a high anxiety day. Where we had 150 homes damaged. Its something were bearing down for and getting for another restless night. You just got hit yesterday. Is there any reports of new damage . No reports of new damage. Nearly 200 homes were impacted yesterday. That pales to april 27th, 2011. Where we had 5,000 homes imkt paed. Still for a Community Still recovering, any event like this brings back bad memories where we lost 53 fellow sill sentences. Citizens. What is the level of damage from the first round of Severe Weather yesterday op monday . If you werent comparing it to april 27th. You would say it would be major. We had several neighborhoods impacted. Nearly 200 homes that felt the impact. Thousands without power and one fatality. We had a tragic fatality of a student athlete at the university of alabama. Really our community son the edge. Were used to being in tornado alley. Were used to tornadoes but the last couple days especially i with the anniversary of april 27th looming, just put all of us on edge. You mentioned john serv ti. Is there anything else you can tell us . Its an incident where we had flash flooding into place. The young man was in a caught in a bad position, my undering he was acting heroically all of the way around. Everyone today is mourning his loss. At same time we have to dust ourself off. Recover and batten down the hatches. We have another round of severe storms coming from mississippi, that everyone believes, including the National Weather services potential to be severe and could bring even more damage to our city. How worried are you that all of the rebuilding they did will get wiped away today . You are very worried. You like to think Something Like that can never happen again. Its obviously a shadow that lives with you and this community. But were taking it very seriously. One thing i cant predict whether a tornado will come to tuscaloosa. But they will be resilient, well survive it and come through it better than ever. Are there lessons that we learned that may save lives this time . Early warning. Make sure you idea your safe places, get to the safe places and heed for caution. If we do anything, we know by doing that, it will definitely save lives. Tuscaloosa mayor, walter maddox, well be thinking, praying and hoping everyone stays safe. We must report officials are raising the death toll to 35 over various states. There are people who witnessed a tornado with their own eyes. Storm chasers get closer than any of us would care to. And capture images of these very often unpredictable and deadly weather outbreak. Brett joins us, good to talk to you. Give us your location and tell us what youre seeing. This afternoon, were in meridian, mississippi. I must echo what chad was staying. We are see storms go to the west. Getting around 30,000 feet. Right now were seeing those in the distance but theyre definitely coming. And just like chad and walt maddox said, Everybody Needs to heed warning and take safety precautions. Any reports of new damage so far in any of the areas youve been doto . Not so far. A lot of storms did insignificant damage. Through columbus and tupelo. Those areas are still frying to uncover from that. We dont have Tornado Warnings just yet. But that could change quickly. Youve been out there. Have you found yourself in danger of this particular outbreak of tornados . Absolutely. Yesterday we were within a couple of hundred yards a little over a milewide tornado outside of columbus, mississippi. Several other Storm Chasers were on that storm as well. Did some damage. We saw a Church Building significantly damaged. 45 south. South of columbus, these storms packing a punch. You heard we just upgraded the number of individuals who have been killed by these storms. Do you have any sense whether these are individuals in the wrong place at the wrong time or whether these are people, in many cases, who did not seek shelter . In all honesty, i know we were in mayflower arkansas when the tornado hit there. Helping with the search and rescue. Most of the people were heeding the warning. Some of them were in mobile homes, unfortunately. Thats where a lot of deaths came from. If youre in a mobile home and a tornado is approaching, please find a safe shelter. We have community shelters. I know in the state of alabama, we have several. These tornadoes approach. And you can get to a low, safe place, please do so, they are large and they are violent. Before we go, we were talking to chad earlier, there were individuals on the road driving on the road behind him even though it looks like he was in the path of this Severe Weather. Are you encountering a lot of people who have not sought shelter yet . Absolutely. Thats one of the things that kind of concerned me. We have our vehicle kind of outfitted with representation of what were here for. Unfortunately we have a couple locals try to follow us while were trying to do our job. I do not recommend that. If you get a tornado warping on your weather radio, or see it on local media, please do not try to follow these things. They can kill you. Brett adair, thank you. Well go back live to mississippi and alabama. Two states under tornado watch right now. But first, paying the price. Clippers owner Donald Sterling banned for life from the nba and if the commissioner has his way, sterling will lose the team, too. Is that enough . Is that too much . What do you think . At od, whatever business youre in, thats the business were in with Premium Service like one of the best ontime delivery records and a low claims ratio, we do whatever it takes to make your business our business. Od. Helping the world keep promises. Thats why i got a new windows 2 in 1. It has exactly what i need for half of what i thought id pay. And i dont need to be online for it to work. It runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. But its fun, too with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, cause a good playlist is good for business. I need the bosss signature for this. Im the boss. Honestly i wanna see you be brave honestly i cthis year aloneore places offi hit new york. Ist. And texas see, hotwire checks the competitions rates every day. So they can guarantee their low hotel prices. Hotwire hotwire. Com welcome back to the lead im jake tapper. The sport lead. Most of us have heard what Los Angeles Clippers owner revealed to his girlfriend proofing his own world view on race seems to have more from common with jim crow than Martin Luther king. If you need a reminder heres a brief sampling. Dont come to my games, dont bring black people and dont come. The rapting is so spectacularly grotesque, the lead handed down what is actually a death sentence. Mr. Silver released that it is mr. Sterlings voice. He must pay a find and be banned. No watching practices no weighing in on personnel or decisions, no going to games. Hes now a basketball persona nongrada. He didnt stop there. He added hell push the leagues other owners to force sterling to sell the clippers. Joining me, isaiah thomas. Good to see you again. Thanks for joining us. First, what is your reaction to the nba decision . I think its great. Its a great day in sports. Its a great day in our society in terms of leadership and showing what we will and wont stand for. Sports has always been the back drop for societal values, and when i look at what the commissioner silver did today, in terms of exuding his leadership, setting the platform for what the nba will be about, moving forward, setting the example for kids who watch our game, not only domestically but internationally, this is the place where we embrace diversity. And this is the place where we welcome all and i think he showed that today. Silver said, the commissioner, said he would do everything in his power toe force sterling to sell the team. The leagues constitution would apparently allow him to force a sale. Should he . I think so, definitely. You know, that is his belief, that is the leagues belief. That is the players beliefs. And i do believe that the owners will fall in line, because, you know, this is a place, again, where we take the leadership role in sport. A lot of times we discuss tough issues in the nba and we dealt with tough issues in the nba, and from a leadership standpoint, i do believe all of the owners will fall in line and set the example, not only for sport, but also for society. Do you see any scenario in which the nba owners, and i believe there needs to be a threefourths majority reach decided against forcing sterling out . I think there will always be some dang and some given and take, but i think most of the owners, if not all of them, will side on the right side of this issue,ly is to transfer power. Mark cuban, the outstoken owner of the mavericks. He contempted his comments. He expressed happiness about what happened today on twitter. He also expressed forcing sterling to sell the team might go a step too far and create a slippery h slope. After all, seems he was recorded illegally because he didnt consent to it. Do you think cuban has any sort of point there . I think he has a point. But we always have to do wheat best for the good of the game and no one player, no one owner, is bigger than the game. And this is a defining moment, not only in our sport but in society. And this is a place where we can the doors now open for a bigger debate and larger debate, that society should have, because we had this debate and we have this in sport, but this needs to go out further into society, out into society and have these open discussions. For so long, we couldnt even talk about race for a while in this country. It was taboo to talk about it. Now we can talk about it, we can speak about it. We can have debate about it. Thats a good thing. I think commissioner silvers Leadership Today opened up the door for the continued debate, that continued discussion about how we interact with each other in this country. I heard an interesting comment from a commentator on espn, he said on a radio show, earlier today, he suggested its too easy to stand against Donald Sterling, its so obvious, overt, caught on tape. While those comments are politic and racist, other things hes done such as engage in housing discrimination. He paid the largest fine for housing discrimination in the history of this country. Those things matter a lot more. Why are we now acting as a society against this guy when hes done worse things . N some ways . Those things that he brought out have been the debate and the conversation for us as africanamericans, all of the way back to the 60s. When you talk about housing, equal access to housing. Equal access to education, those are the things that we, we are we want to have discussion about. Sports gives us the opportunity to bring it to the table, but at the same time, lets not just confine it to the sporting arena. Lets bring it out into society where we can talk about education. We can talk about fair housing and access to Financial Resources and the banking institution, loans, so forth, and so on. Discrimination, race, rationalization. Those are big words in our society that we need to have conversation about here in america. Before you go, i want to ask, youve been in the public eye for decades. You, yourself, face nothing like this. Youve faced some difficult times in the public eye. Is there any part of you not sympathizing with Donald Sterling in any way. Is there any part of you that looks at the public, what hes going through in the public right now and sympathize, you can put yourself in his shoes at all . America is a place, and sport is a place, where we do have punishment, but we also have compassion, and we do have time for rehabilitation. You know, when we send people to prison, we let them come out. We rehabilitate them. We forgive. We are a forgiving society and a compassionate society. I think that should extend to all, not just one. Isaiah zeke thomas, good to talk to you. Good talking to you, thanks for having me. When we come back hes banned from the nba or making any decisions from the l. A. Clippers . Will he still profit off the team even if hes not in the board room . Plus, keeping a close eye where tornadoes could strike this afternoon. Several major cities in the potential path of this storm system. Stay with us. Well have a live report ahead. Abe get in punch it let quicken loans help you save your money. With a mortgage thats engineered to amaze thanks, g. Ndred and seventyseven thousand dollars per minute. Thats what big oil made last year. Now theyre spending it to rig the system against you. Pushing washington to cut americanmade biofuels. Bullying gas stations to use more of their oil. All so they get richer. And you pay more. Truth is, biofuels are cleaner, better for your engine and less expensive. Washington, dont let big oil rig the system any more. Protect the renewable fuel standard. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. The was a truly amazing day. Without angies list, i dont know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. For over 18 years weve helped people take care of the things that matter most. Join today at angieslist. Com no matter what kind of business you own, at t Business Experts can help keep it running. Seamlessly. So you can get back to what you love. When everyone and everything works together, business just sings. The money lead now, he was exposed publicly lick as a racist. Now hes boxed out. A short time ago the commissioner of the nba slapped Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling with the most severe punishment. A lifetime ban from the sport Effective Immediately and a 2,500,000 fine, the maximum. But does it put a dent in his pocketbook if he does not have to give up ownership in they said theyre going to do everything they can to force sterling to sell the team. What can they do . Th