With the announcement of the impending sale of the LA Clippers to Steve Ballmer, attention has now turned to Donald Sterling. Sterling has adamantly declared that he will not sell the LA Clippers, but now new information has come out that shows he does not have a choice. USA Today has reported that a family insider stated that Sterling has been declared mentally unfit.
The LA Clippers ownership is part of the Sterling family trust with Donald Sterling and Shelly Sterling each holding a 50 percent stake in the team. Because the trust has stipulations about the mental capacity of trustees, when applied to Sterling, he no longer met the requirements. This determination gave sole decision making power to Shelly Sterling.
Originally when news of the now infamous recordings was leaked this past April, the NBA banned Sterling for life. For his part, Sterling stated he was going to fight the impending mandatory sale of his team by the NBA board of Governors. But even with all his bluster, the move was already in place to sell the team because Sterling had given his wife written permission to entertain offers by bidders.
Potential new owner, Steve Ballmer issued the following statement, “I love basketball and I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win — and win big — in Los Angeles. L.A. is one of the world’s great cities — a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness. I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community. I thank Shelly Sterling for her willingness to entrust the Clippers franchise to me, and I am grateful to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his colleagues for working collaboratively with me throughout this process.”
The deal is expected to go through easily with no complaints from Sterling. Sterling is expected to make a 15,900 percent profit on the team which he purchased for $15 million and is now being sold for $2 billion.
