Report: Donald Sterling hires private investigators to ‘dig up dirt on fellow NBA owners’
Just last week it appears that Donald Sterling would do the smart thing and give up his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers. However, if we’ve learned anything about Sterling in the past month it’s that the man isn’t prone to much rational thought.
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According to a report in the New York Post, Sterling is not only not selling his team, but also digging in for a fight against the NBA. He’s doing so by hiring a team of private investigators to dig up dirt on fellow NBA owners.
“The gloves are off, as they say,” the source said. “Have them dig up all the dirt they can find,” the Post wrote.
Sterling, the 80-year-old disgraced owner of the Clippers, has already sued the NBA for $1 billion dollars and appears to be looking for information to support his claim of bias in stripping him of ownership and banning him for life for racist comments made public by an ex-girlfriend.
The basis for Sterling’s suit against the NBA is that the recording released was made without his consent, and thus illegally done under California law.
Oh, and don’t forget that Sterling is locked in a legal battle with his wife, Shelly, over the $2 billion sale of the Clippers to ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Sterling is alleging there that Shelly does not have the authority to negotiate unilaterally on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust.
None of this should surprise us, as Sterling has spent years seemingly suing anyone and everyone he could as owner of the Clippers. However, it will be interesting to see what transpires in the coming weeks, as the private investigators will look to show a pattern of inconsistent application of the rules they used to strip Sterling of his ownership.
Considering the twists and turns in this saga already, this summer is bound to be a very interesting one for Sterling and the NBA.