Donald Sterling Agrees To Sell L.A. Clippers For $2 Billion

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NBA-banned owner Donald Sterling has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for an NBA record of $2 billion. Sterling initially filed a lawsuit against the National Basketball Association last Friday seeking $1 billion in damages, but attorneys Bobby Samini and Maxwell Blecher issued a statement saying all disputes had been resolved.

“I feel fabulous, I feel very good,” Sterling told NBC4 on Tuesday night when asked how he felt about his wife selling the team. “Everything is just the way it should be, really. It may have worked out differently, but it’s good. It’s all good.”

NBA owners still have to approve the sale to Ballmer, who is worth $20.3 billion, according to Forbes. He tried buying the Sacramento Kings with investor Chris Hansen last year, but the deal was nixed because the duo had plans to move the franchise to Seattle. However, Ballmer has indicated that he would keep the Clippers in Los Angeles if the purchase is approved.

Shelly Sterling owned 50 percent of the team with Sterling owning the other 50 percent through the Sterling Family Trust. However, after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced the plan to force the sale of the Clippers, Sterling authorized his wife to sell the team on his behalf. To make the deal possible, she acted as the sole trustee of the family trust because in a case where one of the trustees are deemed mentally unfit by experts (which happened to Sterling), the other becomes sole trustee with authorization to make decisions about the trust.

The NBA has yet to set a timetable to vote on the Ballmer ownership of the L.A. Clippers, but it is expected that three-fourths of the 29 owners are likely to agree.

(Photo Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

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