From: NY Daily News
The $2 billion deal to sell the Los Angeles Clippers has taken a bad bounce.
Embattled owner Donald Sterling — saying, “I intend to fight to keep the team” — on Monday pulled back from an agreement to sell the basketball squad to ex-Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer.
Sterling also plans to go ahead with a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA, claiming the league violated his constitutional rights by banning him for life, fining him $2.5 million and trying to force the sale of the Clippers.
“While my position may not be popular, I believe my right to privacy and preservation of my rights to due process shouldn’t be trampled. I love the team and have dedicated 33 years of my life to the organization,” the 80-year-old billionaire said in a statement to NBC News.
“I intend to fight to keep the team."
Just last week, Sterling and his estranged wife, Shelly — who orchestrated the Ballmer deal after having her husband declared mentally unfit — reached an accord with the NBA to approve the sale.
The NBA released a statement Wednesday saying Sterling had pledged to drop the antitrust lawsuit he filed May 30 and refrain from any new suits. He also agreed to not object to Ballmer’s deal, the hoops league said.
But Sterling was reading from a different playbook Monday.
“I believe that Adam Silver acted in haste by illegally ordering the forced sale of the Clippers and banning me for life from the NBA,” he said, referring to the league’s commissioner.
But once he learned the NBA didn’t plan to revoke its lifetime ban or the $2.5 million fine, Sterling backtracked on both the deal and on his promise to retract his $1 billon lawsuit.
“There was never a discussion involving the NBA in which we would modify Mr. Sterling’s penalty in any way whatsoever,” league spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “Any suggestion otherwise is complete fabrication.”
It’s unclear whether he can actually hold up the deal. His wife, Shelly, recently became the sole trustee of the team after Sterling was declared mentally incapacitated by experts.
She also agreed to indemnify the NBA in any lawsuits by Sterling.
