Racist Clippers owner Donald Sterling surrendered control of his team to his estranged wife Shelly on Friday — and she is now negotiating a deal with the NBA to sell, according to a new TMZ report.
Sterling, 80, made the decision because he realized he was out of options, the report said.
The NBA released a summary Monday that detailed the charges it would file to force Sterling and Shelly out of the franchise they’ve co-owned for 33 years. The arrangement hinges on the NBA accepting it and allowing Shelly to work with the Commissioner Adam Silver to seal a deal.
“Shelly Sterling’s preference has always been to find a way to resolve this dispute amicably with the NBA in a mutually satisfactory manner,” Pierce O’Donnell, Shelly’s lawyer, told TMZ.
Sterling found himself in hot water after a tape of him telling his then-gal pal, V. Stiviano, not to bring black people – including NBA great like Magic Johnson – to Clippers games was released on April 29. He said he made a “terrible, terrible mistake” and only said those things because he was trying to sleep with Stiviano.
“I’m talking to a girl. I’m trying to have sex with her,” Sterling said in another recorded tape obtained by Radar Online.
A team of 29 NBA owners is set to meet in Manhattan June 3 to hold a hearing that, with three-fourths of the vote, would oust the Sterlings out. Sterling had indicated that he had no plans to sell the team prior to Friday’s revelation. The Sterlings, who are desperately trying to cling to their team, will likely avoid a long legal battle if the deal is approved.
“We continue to follow the process set forth in the NBA Constitution regarding termination of the current ownership interests in the Los Angeles Clippers and are proceeding toward a hearing on this matter on June 3,” the NBA said in a statement in response to TM
But it’s unclear how much Shelly, who calls the team “her passion,” would be willing to give up. IRS rules will require the Sterlings to pay 20 percent in federal taxes and 13.3 percent in California taxes. In 1981, Sterling bought the team for $13.5 million. If the team sold for $1 billion, the Sterlings would be taxed $328.5 million, according to ESPN.
Last week, Sterling and Shelly faced the music on live television, appearing in separate primetime slots to tell their respective sides of the story.
Sterling added insult to injury during his hour-long chat with CNN’s Anderson Cooper when he gave a half-hearted apology and then continued to bash Hall-of-Famer Johnson.
“He’s a good person. I mean, what am I going to say?’’ Sterling told Cooper, before adding,
“Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it, he’s great.
But I don’t think he’s a good example for the children of Los Angeles.”
Johnson, 54, publicly said he has “already forgiven” Sterling.
“The man is living in the past,” Johnson said at a conference in Las Vegas last week.
Shelly sat down with Barbara Walters May 11, telling her she thought Sterling was suffering from an early “onset of dementia.” She also spoke about her plans to divorce Sterling after 60 years of marriage, and why she thought it was sexist that the NBA may try to push her out, too.
“I will fight that decision,” Shelly told Walters about the league’s possible power play. “To be honest with you, I’m wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there’s 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or would they leave the husband in?”
It is likely that Sterling handed over the team to Shelly because she will have more sway with NBA officials, who have made clear that they will use their power to get rid of the bigoted Sterling. Silver banned him for life and fined him $2.5 million for the damages he did to both the league and the team.
Sterling has continuously said he refuses to pay the fine, which he has to respond to by May 27