By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Basketball great Earvin \"Magic\" Johnson shrugged off the latest character assault leveled at him by Donald Sterling, calling the Los Angeles Clippers owner \"delusional\" and suggesting Sterling acted out of desperation to keep the NBA from seizing his team. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a statement apologizing to Johnson for being \"degraded by such a malicious and personal attack.\" Sterling's CNN interview on Monday marked his first public comment since coming under fire nearly three weeks ago, when TMZ.com posted an audio recording of him berating a female friend for publicly associating with black people, including Magic Johnson. The resulting furor led Silver days later to declare Sterling banned for life from the National Basketball Association, and to call on the 29 other team owners who make up the NBA Board of Governors to strip Sterling of team ownership. He also further stoked outrage by lashing out at Johnson, the charismatic former Los Angeles Lakers point guard who stunned the sports world in 1991 when he announced he had contracted HIV and was retiring at the peak of his NBA career.

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