NBA resolves dispute with Sterlings, will approve Clippers sale to Steve Ballmer
The Sterlings will sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer pending a vote from the NBA’s owners. (John W. McDonough/SI)
The NBA has announced it has resolved its dispute with the Sterling family and will approve the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer.
Under the agreement announced Friday, Ballmer will purchase the Clippers for the $2 billion he agreed to, pending a vote from the NBA’s Board of Governors. The NBA will terminate its charge to remove Donald and Shelly Sterling from ownership and will cancel its June 3 meeting to oust the Sterlings from ownership.
In addition, Shelly Sterling and the family’s trust agreed not to sue the NBA or “indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling,” according to a release.
The agreement comes in the wake of Donald Sterling’s lawyer announcing Friday that his client planned to file a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA. But the agreement between the NBA and the Sterling family trust appears to deal a significant blow to Donald Sterling’s chances of winning any judgment in court.
According to Sterling’s lawyer, Max Blecher, the lawsuit’s charges would include an invasion of Sterling’s constitutional rights, violation of anti-trust laws and breach of fiduciary duty associated with the NBA’s lifetime ban and termination charges.
Blecher also clarified that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the sale of the Clippers, though he told Yahoo! Sports that separate action regarding the sale was being considered.
Earlier Friday, TMZ.com reported Donald Sterling had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Sterling was diagnosed by doctors earlier this month, which led him to be declared “mentally incapacitated” – a determination that removed him from power of the Sterling family trust and, by extension, the Clippers. That left Shelly Sterling as the sole trustee of the family’s trust, a status which fully empowered her to sign a $2 billion agreement to sell the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Because of the binding agreement to sell the Clippers, all that’s left to turn the Clippers over to Ballmer is a vote from the NBA’s Board of Governors.
Ballmer, 58, served as CEO of Microsoft from 2000 until Feb. 2014.
“I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers,” Ballmer said in a statement. “I thank Shelly Sterling for her willingness to entrust the Clippers franchise to me, and I am grateful to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his colleagues for working collaboratively with me throughout this process.”
In 2013, Ballmer was involved in the failed attempted purchase of the Sacramento Kings with the intention to move them to Seattle and re-brand the organization as the Supersonics.
In a press statement released Friday, Ballmer indicated his excitement to own a team in Los Angeles, and he told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month that he would not attempt to relocate the team.
“I love basketball and I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win – and win big – in Los Angeles,” Ballmer said. “L.A. is one of the world’s great cities – a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness. I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community.”
Ballmer’s net worth has been pegged at more than $20 billion by Forbes, which would make him the richest owner in American professional sports. The $2 billion sale price would set a record for an NBA team, obliterating the $550 million sale price for the Milwaukee Bucks. Only Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, which sold recently for $2.1 billion, have been sold for a higher price.
SI.com’s Rob Mahoney and Ben Golliver contributed to this report.
More SI.com NBA playoff coverage
2014 NBA playoffs schedule, results | Predictions: East finals | West finals
JENKINS: New NBA commissioner Adam Silver his own man (magazine)
SI ROUNDTABLE: Will KD, Russ win a title? | Star that needs a fresh start?
2014 NBA DRAFT: Mannix’s post-lottery Mock Draft | Lottery winners, losers
STERLING COVERAGE: NBA’s checklist before approving sale of Clippers
VIDEO: Conference clashes are polar opposites | Pacers can’t afford to lose…
DURANT: Watch emotional MVP speech | Appreciating greatness | SI cover
PHOTOS: Greatest upsets | NBA playoffs fashion | LeBron’s best playoff games
About Us
$2 billion is a lot to honor. Wonder if the gal who released that audio that started all this is getting a piece. She should.
Sterling gets hundreds of millions and the Clippers fans will see their ticket prices rise to pay for the exorbitant price Ballmer paid for his new toy. As usual, the 1% owners come out great and the fans get the short end.
All of the angry Caucasians that were outraged about the Sterling situation can relax now. The team was bought by another Caucasian, and this one isn't even Jewish! You win once again... Now you can stop being so angry... Oh wait, Obama is still president so you will stay mad for another 2 years...
This is what is called "Good Lawyering." They'll take your property AND have you declared insane. Donald Sterling is a loathsome human being, but I'm still a little surprised at how fast this all happened.
Well at least he did not use the born again defense, Alzheimer skipping right over dementia is bit of a stretch though as he's a rich guy who would have had checkups regularly that would include CT and MRI's from a top doctor. I am disappointed that no minorities improved the wide gap of inequality of a league with 78% players of color and 1 of 29 owners of color ( Michael Jordan) the NBA missed an opportunity there.
"Answer the first letter."
RFK
@FredFlintsone She can enjoy the money in Prison. Actually she no longer will be getting the payoff from MAGIC, who may have put her up to this.
@atwood.t
It's simple. If you don't like the price don't go to the games and don't use a TV provider that carries the Clippers channel. Sports aren't a necessity and these rich pricks can charge whatever they want but they can't MAKE you buy. If you do buy while complaining about the price you're an idiot.
@Joe R2 People like you are just as much a problem as any white or black hate group.... grow up and move on - your attitude about the whole thing is as bad as anyones
@Joe R2 and so will everyone else for the next two plus years too...
@Rickapolis Since when are the members of a team "property"? We resolved that issue 150 years ago.
And I know he's getting a HUGE amount of money for his property. But they are still taking it.
@CharlesSpencerKing What you know about Alzheimer's disease could fit into a thimble.
@CharlesSpencerKing Name a minority that could step right in and offer $2 billion CASH for the Clippers, who by the way, had already been vetted when he tried to buy the Kings. I'll wait.
@CharlesSpencerKing The only color that matters in a bidding process is green.
@JerryTwentyfive @FredFlintsone whole story getting twisted, TMZ found new video that she racially abusing black people. Dang!! Sterling going to bank another 1 billion...
@atwood.t @Rickapolis grow up.... thats not the issue and we know it
@atwood.t @Rickapolis By the way, do you have any idea what Shogun is talking about?
@atwood.t @Rickapolis No, no you know I didn't mean the players. The TEAM is NOT a person. He owns the team, not the players.
@Rickapolis lol hes getting more than double what its worth, so its not really "taking" in the normal sense.... he might have won in court still, but this way he wins in the only important place - the wallet
@Rickapolis
relocate to Annapolis
Our souls filled with endless bliss
relocate to Annapolis
Ballmer please don't dismiss
OUR LOVELY ANNAPOLIS!
@Rickapolis goodness it is just great reading your poetry
why does a minority have to own the team? Just because there was a racial controversy?