NBA accepts Los Angeles Clippers sale to Steve Ballmer, cancels hearing with Sterlings
The NBA has accepted Shelly Sterling’s move to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and has cancelled a June 3 hearing with the Sterling family, the league announced in a news release Friday evening.
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The NBA Board of Governors was set to vote on the termination of the Sterling Family Trust’s ownership of the Clippers after Shelley Sterling, wife of owner Donald Sterling, sold the team without his approval after he was ruled mentally unfit and lost his power to control half of the trust.
Below is the release from the league:
"The NBA, Shelly Sterling and the Sterling Family Trust today resolved their dispute over the ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. Under the agreement, the Clippers will be sold to Steve Ballmer, pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and the NBA will withdraw its pending charge to terminate the Sterlings’ ownership of the team."
"Because of the binding agreement to sell the team, the NBA termination hearing that had been scheduled for June 3 in New York City has now been cancelled. Mrs. Sterling and the Trust also agreed not to sue the NBA and to indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling."
Donald Sterling had threatened to sue the league for $1 billion, but that may now be a thing of the past with this latest agreement from the Sterling Trust.
The NBA Board of Governors still must approve the sale to Ballmer, and has not set a date for a vote on that matter as of this time.