NBA says Shelly Sterling has no ownership right to Los Angeles Clippers
By Bryan Rose
The NBA has already began the process to remove Donald Sterling from the NBA, this after serving the long time owner with legal documents last week.
But despite the NBA’s desire to remove the Sterling family from the league, Shelly Sterling, wife of Donald Sterling has been adamant in her desire to retain the team.
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Shelly Sterling has continually suggested that she’s entitled to ownership of the franchise given her marriage to Donald. However, the NBA disagrees and commissioner Adam Silver stated on Tuesday that Mrs. Sterling has no ownership right to the Clippers.
“So our position is once under the constitution, based on Mr. Sterling’s conduct, if the owners ultimately decide that it’s appropriate to terminate his franchise, the interest of all owners is terminated.”
Mr. Sterling has all but stated that there will be a legal fight if fellow NBA owners decide to vote him out of the league on June 3rd when the Board of Governors convene in New York.
As for his wife, it’s believed that Shelly does share Mr. Sterling’s ownership via the Sterling Family Trust but once his ownership is terminated, it will void her ownership as well.
In short, as much as we’d all like it to, this doesn’t look like a situation that will be going away anytime soon.