Politicking and backstabbing are pillars of any business where sinister sociopaths are treated to the titles of "CEO" or "entrepreneur". The NBA simply doesn't have a moral and especially legal ground to stand on to force Gearon out. "Oh, we don't like that you took advantage of our unprecedented public excommunicating of Sterling and thus creating an environment of zero tolerance in its stead in order to fulfill a personal goal". Hello, the NBA were the ones that gave Gearon the vehicle for which he could oust Levenson and Ferry in the first place. Levenson bounced certainly because he didn't want to look like a hypocrite after publicly speaking out against Sterling so certainly the NBA doesn't want to adapt a position where they'd seem like hypocrites themselves. They are already riding the edge with Ferry. They can wring their hands and glower at Gearon but he can treat them to an Omar Little "it's all in the game".
Doesn't matter though because I wouldn't expect much help from the NBA anyway. Even in the midst of the Belkin fiasco the NBA's whole strategy was "they'll work things out" rather than ruling against Belkin trying to supersede his powers and force the other owners out in a hostile takeover. Even when the ASG were struggling to pay operating costs and were borrowing loans from the NBA they still weren't suggesting that ownership sell. Unless enough fervent public dissent builds up against Gearon this too will just be another situation for the ASG to "work out" .
