Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
A supporter holds a photo cutout of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling while standing in line for the NBA Playoff game 5 between Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California April 29, 2014.
Sterling, 80, sued the NBA and Silver on May 30 seeking at least $1 billion in damages just as the league tentatively approved a deal by his estranged wife, co-owner of the franchise, to sell the club to former Microsoft Corp chief executive Steve Ballmer.
Days later, Sterling's lawyer, Max Blecher, said his client had agreed to the sale and would withdraw the lawsuit. But Silver said the case was still pending and was holding up a final disposition of the deal.
'We're almost there. There is this last piece, and that is the lawsuit that Donald brought against the League and me personally,' Silver told reporters before Game 2 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio.
Sterling was banned for life from the NBA in April after a tape recording of disparaging remarks he made about black people was leaked to the celebrity news website TMZ.com, igniting an uproar among fans, players and commercial sponsors of his team.
The NBA commissioner also fined Sterling $2.5 million, the league's maximum monetary penalty, and called on the league's 29 other team owners to take the unprecedented step of forcing Sterling to sell the Clippers, which he bought in 1981 for $12.5 million.
After first threatening not to relinquish the team without a fight, Sterling ceded a controlling interest in the team to his wife, Shelly, who was already a 50 percent co-owner through a family trust, for the purposes of negotiating a sale.
After she struck a deal to sell the Clippers to Ballmer for a league record $2 billion, Sterling sued the NBA, seeking, among other things, to recoup the capital gains taxes he would have to pay, though Blecher later said the lawsuit would be dropped.
'I have absolute confidence it will be resolved because as part of the sale agreement with Shelly Sterling, she agreed to indemnify the league against a lawsuit by her husband. So in essence, Donald is suing himself and he knows that. While I understand he is frustrated, I think it's over,' Silver said.
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Ron; Popeski)
Entities 0 Name: NBA Count: 4 1 Name: Sterling Count: 3 2 Name: Los Angeles Clippers Count: 2 3 Name: Clippers Count: 2 4 Name: Silver Count: 2 5 Name: Donald Count: 2 6 Name: Staples Center Count: 1 7 Name: Shelly Count: 1 8 Name: Steve Ballmer Count: 1 9 Name: Popeski Count: 1 10 Name: Donald Sterling Count: 1 11 Name: Max Blecher Count: 1 12 Name: Golden State Warriors Count: 1 13 Name: Blecher Count: 1 14 Name: Reuters\/Mario Anzuoni A Count: 1 15 Name: Ballmer Count: 1 16 Name: California Count: 1 17 Name: Los Angeles Count: 1 18 Name: San Antonio Count: 1 19 Name: Shelly Sterling Count: 1 20 Name: Microsoft Corp Count: 1 21 Name: Ron Count: 1 22 Name: Steve Gorman Count: 1 23 Name: TMZ.com Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/SqhDJl Title: Adam Silver primed to finish Clippers transition Description: SAN ANTONIO - NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took a modest approach to his first 128 days in office, a period dominated by one of the league's most serious crises. "I've done the best I could," Silver said on Sunday before the start of Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.
