Apparently, the notion of becoming about $2 billion richer has quelled Donald Sterling’s bravado. After weeks of professing that he would not sell the Los Angles Clippers, that he would sue to block any sale and that he would sue the NBA, the disgraced Sterling now says – it’s all good.
Steve Ballmer, once an executive at Microsoft, came to an agreement to purchase the team with Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelly, a move that is expected to be ratified by the league’s owners without problem. Donald Sterling, booted from the league by Commissioner Adam Silver after the world heard Sterling on secretly recorded audio tapes denigrating Blacks, claimed he was not giving up the franchise he owned for 33 years.
That was then. Now, he says to NBC4 in Los Angeles: “I’m OK, I’m OK. Is the NBA OK? I’m not sure about that. Is [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver OK? I’m sure he’s OK.”
The NBA Board of Governors will vote on the deal agreed upon by Shelly Sterling and Ballmer, who bid $2 billion for the team.
It’s unclear whether Donald Sterling will move forward with a lawsuit he filed last week against the league asking for damages in excess of $1 billion.
Since the agreement between the NBA and the Sterling trust was announced after the lawsuit was filed in court, Donald Sterling’s attorney, Max Blecher, said he needed to review all the new information before proceeding.
“We gotta sit down and see how all of this affects us,” Blecher told ESPN.com.
Whether or not Sterling moves forward with his own lawsuit, he still could be busy in court. Sterling also is facing a lawsuit from a woman who alleges that while she was a former employee of his, she had a romantic relationship with him and was subjected to a “steady stream of racially and sexually offensive comments,” according to the complaint.
Sterling’s comments Tuesday came while he was at a dinner for nonprofit organization Shelter Partnerships in downtown Los Angeles. He said he was there to support the cause.
