Racist Donald Sterling agrees with wife Rochelle to a sell of LA Clippers basketball franchise, Rochelle Sterling has said that she is not a racist
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| Infamous LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling |
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| Rochelle Sterling and her estranged husband, embattled LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, in happier times. Donald Sterling was fined $2.5 million by NBA officials in late April and banned from the NBA for racist comments against Blacks. On Wednesday he joined Rochelle Sterling, part owner of the team also, in her push to sell the NBA basketball franchise. He also backed off of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed behind the controversy. The deal is pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors and would be a record high behind the $550 million price tag for the Milwaukee Bucks |
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| Steve Ballmer |
| By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 |
LOS ANGELES, California —Embattled anti-Black LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling on Wednesday signed an agreement to a sell of his NBA team for a reported $2 billion to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a compromise that comes behind his lifetime NBA ban for racist remarks and that puts him on footing with his estranged wife Rochelle, 80, who pushed the deal.
The 29 other team owners had the power to force a sell
of the team, which requires a 75 percent vote, but it did not come to that.
The deal is pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors and would be a record high behind the $550 million price tag for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Sterling, 80, is the longest tenured owner of any of the 30 NBA teams and bought the Clippers in 1981 for a reported $12.5 million. And though under pressure to sell the team in the midst of the fallout that has Blacks and many Whites and others simply upset, he had said previously that he would not sell, and he hired a high priced lawyer to sue on his behalf for billions. He said just days before he agreed to give up the team that the punishment behind his racist rant was too harsh, that his rights and his company's rights had been violated, and that his contract had been breached.
He said publicly earlier this week that he will not pursue the lawsuit either.
He said publicly earlier this week that he will not pursue the lawsuit either.
Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA for life in late April and fined the billionaire $2.5 million after racist comments surfaced publicly that were recorded by a girlfriend, V. Stivano. The punishment, which the NBA hoped will quell slated protests over the matter by some NBA players, is the harshest in NBA history.
The suspension bans Sterling from ever sitting court-side at an NBA game or attending any Clippers' practices. And he cannot set foot in any Clippers' facilities.
The purported racist comments that Sterling admits he made, have unnerved people across America from President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, to NBA ball players and team owners, including Miami Heat power forward LeBron James, and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.
"There's no room in the NBA for Donald Sterling, there's no room for him," said James, who played for the Cavaliers for seven years before joining the Miami Heat in 2010 and leading the team to two subsequent NBA championships, first in in 2012, and for second a time in 2013.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
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