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Shelly Sterling agrees to sell Clippers for $2 billion

May 30, 2014
FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2014, photo, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, left, shakes hands with former NBA players Bill Russell, right, and "Downtown" Freddie Brown as Omar Lee looks on during an NCAA college basketball game between Washington and Oregon State in Seattle. An individual with knowledge of negotiations to sell the Los Angeles Clippers said Shelly Sterling has reached an agreement to sell the team to Ballmer for $2 billion. The individual, who wasn뭪 authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 29, 2014, that Ballmer and the Sterling Family Trust now have a binding agreement. The deal now must be presented to the NBA. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

FILE – In this Jan. 25, 2014, photo, then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, left, shakes hands with former NBA players Bill Russell, right, and “Downtown” Freddie Brown as Omar Lee looks on during an NCAA college basketball game between Washington and Oregon State in Seattle. An individual with knowledge of negotiations to sell the Los Angeles Clippers said Shelly Sterling has reached an agreement to sell the team to Ballmer for $2 billion. The individual, who wasn뭪 authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 29, 2014, that Ballmer and the Sterling Family Trust now have a binding agreement. The deal now must be presented to the NBA. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

(CNS) – Shelly Sterling, the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling, has agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, she announced today.

“I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner,” Shelly Sterling said in a statement. “We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise.  I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success.”

Shelly Sterling was acting under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers, when she signed a binding contract with Ballmer on Thursday, according to her attorneys.

There was no immediate reaction from Donald Sterling.

As for the NBA, which has been working to separate Donald Sterling from professional basketball over racist comments he made in a tape-recorded telephone conversation with a former lover, it has been cooperating with Ballmer during the bidding process, Ballmer said. The remark suggested the league will not object to Ballmer as an owner.

“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,” he
said in a statement.  ”I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.”

Ballmer’s offer topped a $1.6 billion bid from a group that included entertainment mogul David Geffen and a $1.2 billion bid from investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The $2 billion offer for the Clippers far surpasses the previous record for an NBA team — $550 million paid this month for the Milwaukee Bucks.

“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,” Ballmer said.  ”L.A. is one of the world’s great cities… I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community.”

The NBA’s Board of Governors is scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote on whether to expel Donald Sterling as an owner. A two-thirds vote of the league’s owners is required to oust Sterling. The NBA will also have to approve any sale of the Clippers.

ESPN reported that Donald Sterling, 80, recently was found by experts to be mentally incapacitated, allowing his wife to be the sole trustee of the family trust and giving her the power to deal directly with Ballmer under guidelines previously established in the Sterling family trust.

Ballmer, 58, was part of a group that last year tried to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move the team to Seattle. The NBA, however, balked at moving the franchise. Ballmer has said he had no intention of trying to move the Clippers out of Los Angeles.

Donald Sterling has been under fire since recorded conversations of him disparaging companion V. Stiviano for having her picture taken with black people, including Magic Johnson, were made public. Sterling also told Stiviano, who is half black, not to bring black people to Clippers games.

Sterling contended in a statement to the NBA this week that he was recorded illegally while making emotional remarks during a “lovers’ quarrel.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he and all Los Angeles basketball fans look forward to “putting the past behind us and looking forward to a new and winning era for the Clippers.”

“I congratulate Steve Ballmer and look forward to working with him and the Clippers to make a positive impact on our city,” Garcetti said.