The act was the damage his comments caused to the league through cancelled sponsorships and relations with the players. That's where the $2.5 mil comes from.
This will not end well for the league.
I don't know if the league will manage to strip him from ownership, but the ban and the fine will stay.
You’re overthinking this ,, an act is an act and words are words ... the max fine for words is $1m if you don’t believe me then read the NBA Constitution and bylaws , it’s available at http://mediacentral.nba.com/media/mediacentral/NBA-Constitution-and-By-Laws.pdf
Sorry - the ‘damage’ you cite is the *result* of a verbal utterance by Sterling. The league constitution separates verbal utterances and acts as the catalysts for such results. A verbal utterance is explicitly set apart from an act.
If the contract that is the NBA constitution is enforced per its own content, the league loses big time.
The content of Sterling’s character notwithstanding, the NBA screwed the pooch by overreaching, legally. (Of course, Obama’s screwing the GM bind holders did show that contracts are no longer enforceable, so...)