Donald Sterling is planning to sell the Los Angeles Clippers. On Friday morning, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that Sterling has agreed to allow his wife Shelly to negotiate a forced sale of the team.
The NBA has not yet accepted the terms of the proposal between Donald and Shelly, and she will have to state her case in the coming days. If the proposed deal means having the Sterlings take their money and be gone from the league, I can’t imagine there would be much opposition from the NBA.
As Shelburne put it, the entire Sterling saga could come to an abrupt end if Donald transfers full ownership to Shelly and she agrees to sell the Clippers in their entirety.
Earlier this week, the NBA submitted its formal written case against Donald Sterling. One of the more interesting sections of the 30-page report stated that league investigator David Anders has reason to believe Shelly and Donald are “not in any sense estranged” and have spent time together since the racist audio recording was released. That seemed to set the stage for the NBA making a case that Donald turning the team over to Shelly is not a viable option.
However, the league would likely accept the proposal if it is a matter of Shelly agreeing to negotiate a complete sale. Adam Silver wants the Sterling family out of the picture completely. This would be one way of accomplishing that goal.
