Donald Sterling Gives Up

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With the NBA’s league of owners preparing to vote to almost certainly disenfranchise him from the league and with his legal options having evaporated into near nothingness, Sterling agreed late last week to cede control of the organization to his wife, Shelly Sterling, for immediate sale. The logic behind this move was that the estranged Mrs. Sterling has significantly more leverage and credibility with the league than her husband. Donald Sterling is said to have destroyed pertinent evidence in the racially charged case against him and even initially tried to get V. Stiviano to lie and claim it was not his voice on the taped recordings. Also, Sterling’s wild CNN interview (without a PR rep or attorney present) was a hand-wrapped gift to the NBA, since his on camera admissions virtually made the Stiviano recording moot.  With this in mind, the Sterling’s believed Shelly was the best choice to begin negotiations with the NBA on a sale of the billion dollar franchise.

Steve Ballmer and Shelly Sterling

Over the holiday weekend, Shelly and her lawyer, Pierce O’Donnell, reportedly met secretly with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA lawyers to resolve the dispute amicably. On Sunday, Shelly met with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who has expressed strong interest in purchasing the franchise. Ballmer is known for coveting a NBA franchise back in his beloved city of Seattle, although he has publicly stated that if he acquires the Clippers, he would keep them in Los Angeles.

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The list of potential suitors for the Clippers continues to grow. In addition to Ballmer, Oprah Winfrey, Magic Johnson/Guggenheim Partners, Larry Ellison, recording executive David Geffen and others have expressed serious interest.  Even former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming has collected a group of Chinese investors who want a crack at the team.

Shelly Sterling hopes the NBA will allow her to voluntarily sell the team without their involvement, but that is very unlikely to happen since Shelly’s plan comes with a catch — she would keep a minority ownership interest in the team.

In a statement, the NBA said:

“In response to reports about Donald Sterling surrendering controlling ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers… We continue to follow the process set forth in the NBA Constitution regarding termination of the current ownership interests in the Los Angeles Clippers and are proceeding toward a hearing on this matter on June 3.” 

The NBA is adamant that they want both Sterling’s out of the ownership business, which means this fight is only just beginning.  Stay tuned…