It occurs to me that Sterling's statements that he said those things might not be inadmissible. I don't know what he specifically admitted to the league, but if he said anything they can use in court, his lawyers should be shot.
There are a lot of important principles at play here. This is an Orwellian thought crime, not a conduct crime. We know what he really thinks. But if we knew what anyone really thinks about everything, they would probably lose their livelihoods. I do not agree with Sterling's views. But if my views on gay marriage were public, I could not be CEO of Mozilla or a lot of companies.
Again Silver stated that the actions are based solely on the recorded conversation. So the proximate cause of any damage to the NBA and the owners is the girl's disclosure of Sterling's conversation. I think that the owners and NBA have some exposure here.
I don't think any lawyer in his right mind would let the girl testify.