Donald Sterling won't pursue lawsuit
Banned owner Donald Sterling has approved the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and won't pursue further legal action related to the transaction, his attorney told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne in an email Wednesday.
Max Blecher said Donald Sterling had settled with wife Shelly regarding the sale and that the NBA agreed to not sue him for anything a day after Sterling, in an interview with NBC4 during a charity function, said he was ready to "move on."
"I feel fabulous, I feel very good," Sterling told NBC4 on Tuesday night when asked how he felt about his wife selling the team. "Everything is just the way it should be, really. It may have worked out differently, but it's good. It's all good."
Donald Sterling -- who had yet to sign anything as of Wednesday night, a source told ESPN.com -- sued the NBA on Friday seeking $1 billion in damages but will withdraw that suit, Blecher said. Commissioner Adam Silver also was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The source said the expectation is that Sterling will officially sign off on the sale, and that his people -- Blecher included -- are encouraging him to do so.
"I'm OK, I'm OK," Sterling said Tuesday. "Is the NBA OK? I'm not sure about that. Is Adam Silver OK? I'm sure he's OK."
Once the NBA approved Ballmer's bid to buy the Clippers on Friday, a hearing to determine Donald Sterling's future was canceled. Instead, the NBA Board of Governors will vote on the deal agreed upon by Shelly Sterling and Ballmer, who bid $2 billion for the team.
Donald Sterling will still be banned from the NBA for life, a source told ESPN.com.
Shelly Sterling, as part of a settlement with the league and a condition of the sale to Ballmer, had indemnified the NBA against future legal action by her husband, essentially meaning that even if he won his lawsuit, the Sterling family trust -- which she controlled after Donald Sterling was found by neurologists to be mentally incapacitated -- would pay the damages.
The NBA has set no timetable for a vote to approve Ballmer, but he is expected to easily be accepted by three-fourths of the other 29 owners.
