Donald Sterling has surrendered his portion of the Los Angeles Clippers to his wife, Shelly Sterling. According to TMZ, Donald is no longer in control of the basketball team and is allowing Shelly to secretly negotiate a deal with the NBA to sell the team.
Sources close the Clippers told TMZ that Donald recently made the decision because he knew the NBA would order an involuntary sale of the team. According to ESPN, the league filed charges earlier this week to terminate Donald as the owner.
The 80-year-old had until Tuesday to respond to the charges. At first Donald's lawyer, Max Blecher, responded by asking for a three-month extension but it was denied, sources told ESPN. In an email to the NBA, Blecher said that his client would fight the charges but apparently Donald changed his mind.
Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that Shelly and her lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, have been secretly meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA lawyers to "resolve the dispute amicably."
Reportedly Shelly is not against selling the Clippers but wants to call all the shots. Sources close to the Sterlings said that Shelly will file legal documents against the NBA if they still insist on an involuntary sale.
The NBA banned Donald for life last month and fined him $2.5 million after a recording leaked of him making racist comments toward black people. In the audio Donald told his mistress/girlfriend V. Stiviano not to hang out with black people in public and to not bring black people to Clippers games with her.
"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to?" Donald said at one point in the audio.
"You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that... and not to bring them to my games," he continued.
Despite the comments, Donald denies that he is a racist.
