Clippers sold to former Microsoft CEO for $2 billion

Rivers joined the franchise in 2013 and led Los Angeles to a franchise-best season, but his future with the Clippers came in question following the Donald Sterling scandal. New team owner Steve Ballmer was expected to make Rivers’ extension a priority once he was granted control of the team. Ballmer praised Rivers in the Clippers’ press release:

The extension locks in one of the NBA’s highly respected coaches and executives while the Clippers transition to new ownership. Rivers’ extension with Los Angeles will allow new owner Ballmer an opportunity to provide stability in the front office and coaching staff as he takes control of the franchise.

That title isn’t just ceremonial, though. In fact, her involvement is much deeper.

Editor’s Note: The charitable foundation piece of that tweet is actually untrue, and the story has been changed to reflect that.

The Los Angeles Clippers are officially rid of Donald Sterling. The NBA announced the completion of the sale of the team to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer Tuesday, closing the final chapter of a long process to remove Sterling from power after he was caught uttering racist remarks on tape in an argument with companion V Stiviano.

The league announced that Ballmer, who paid a reported $2 billion fee to acquire the club, is the Clippers’ “Governor.”

An anonymous source confirmed that the NBA has no intention of absolving either punishment, according to the report:

This is yet another twist in a situation that continues to be a serious issue for the NBA. Sterling’s statement that he would drop his $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA while also agreeing to sell the Clippers franchise appeared to be a clean break for both sides, but the resolution seems uncertain again.

This means that Tuesday’s vote to strip the Sterlings of the Clippers won’t happen. Instead, sometime soon, Ballmer will take over.

But earlier on Friday, Donald Sterling’s lawyer told reporters the real estate mogul would be suing the NBA for $1 billion in damages related to his punishment from the league. That’s why this line in the NBA’s statement is the most important:

The sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Mircrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer is now only pending approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors after the resolution of a dispute over the rightful owner of the team, the NBA has announced. The resolution means the NBA termination hearing scheduled for June 3 has been canceled. Once the NBA Board of Governors approves the sale to Ballmer, the franchise will officially be his.

Ballmer reached an agreement with Shelly Sterling on Thursday to acquire the team for an NBA record $2 billion. Since the report of the agreement became public knowledge, Donald Sterling has done everything he could to fight for control of the franchise. It was reported that Donald Sterling planned on filing a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA on Thursday for damages brought forth by the league’s lifetime ban.

Los Angles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is planning to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA for damages in excess of $1 billion, according to a report from Tim Stelloh of NBC News. The reports of a lawsuit come a day after Shelly Sterling reached an agreement to sell the franchise to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

The purpose of the lawsuit is to recover money Sterling believes the league cost him through the lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine. There may be another lawsuit coming against Shelly Sterling that will attempt to block the sale.

If the meeting does go on as scheduled and the owners vote to strip the Sterlings of their ownership, they would still receive the purchase price of the team. The big difference is, unlike the agreement with Ballmer, the Sterlings would not be able to set the terms of the sale if they are stripped of the franchise.

Given Sterling’s incredible return -- he bought the team for $12.5 million in 1981, will reportedly sell for $2 billion -- just three years after a lockout, some players are wondering exactly why owners were crying poor in 2011. The fact that Sterling’s got such an ugly reputation and still came away with bags of cash isn’t leaving anyone thrilled.

That understandably makes it easy for players to wonder why the league initiated the 2011 lockout, and a perception of greed could have interesting implications when the next round of CBA negotiations starts up later this decade. But for now, everyone will probably just need to accept that any owner who purchased his team before the TV rights boom will be able to walk away a much, much wealthier person.

Like most of Sterling’s time running Los Angeles’ No. 2 hoops franchise, the conclusion arrives in a bizarre, clouded situation where the only apparent winner is his bank account. But for fans of the once-beleaguered team, a saga that began over a month ago with reports from TMZ has actually led to a somewhat happy ending.

With Ballmer in place, the future seems brighter for the Clippers than it has in a while. Considering how Sterling’s ownership seemed secure just months ago, let’s take a look at just how we got here:

Silver had to act decisively and quickly to keep his players on board ... and he did. And he deserves all credit for that.

Few really expected Silver to ban Sterling for life from NBA activities or to push to strip him of his team. It seemed like the basketball world was prepared to be disappointed by Silver’s punishment. Sponsors abandoned the Clippers. There was growing pressure on NBA partners. We expected a $1 million fine and a postseason ban. Silver went much harder, showing palpable anger in the press conference that satisfied the players. He won that battle. He won over the players, sponsors and the fans.

The news comes after reports of a $2 billion sale of the franchise to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier on Thursday.

When news of Ballmer’s purchase initially hit the public, there was some confusion as to whether Donald Sterling would accept the deal or decide to challenge the NBA. However, this development appears to take that decision out of his hands, not long after Sterling seemingly went back and forth on giving Shelly permission to sell the team.

First, some perspective on how mammoth a $2 billion valuation is.

Considered another way, $2 billion was roughly the total NBA player compensation this season. That’s about 450 players making anywhere from $500,000 to $30 million. The entire NBA’s revenue is approximately $4 billion.

However, with the pending sale to Ballmer, Geffen confirmed to ESPN’s Darren Rovell that his group withdrew its offer for the team, signaling that the deal will likely go through. According to past reports, the Geffen-led group offered $1.6 billion for the team, significantly less than the $2 billion reportedly offered by Ballmer.

As the Clippers saga appears to be nearing one potential conclusion, let’s take a look at the non-Ballmer bidders for the team:

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has finalized his agreement to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

The sale must now be approved by NBA owners. Donald Sterling’s presence is a wild card: the current Clippers owner is refusing to sell, according to his lawyers, but it’s unclear whether that matters.

Who exactly is Steve Ballmer? The former Microsoft CEO is a huge basketball fan, and this isn’t his first attempt to become an NBA owner.

The 58-year-old Ballmer was born and raised in Detroit. He excelled in school from an early age, taking college graduate math courses while he was in high school and scoring a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT, according to the New York Times. After graduating, he headed off to Harvard for college where he would eventually graduate with honors.

Sterling’s exact reasoning for turning down such a lucrative deal is unclear. Money apparently isn’t much of a concern.

Any potential sale still needs Sterling’s signature. At one point, it appeared he was content to hand over responsibility of the sale to his wife, Shelly Sterling. He has since publicly stated that he has disavowed any deal he made with his wife.

UPDATE: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has signed a binding agreement with the Sterling family to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for an NBA record $2 billion, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA. The agreement is now in the hands of the NBA and pending the approval of the 29 other owners. The owners need to give a 3/4s majority vote to approve the sale.

Ousted Clippers Donald Sterling must also still give his blessing for the sale to be finalized. If not, the NBA will proceed with a vote on June 3 to force him to sell on their terms.

Prospective bidders for the Los Angeles Clippers will have until 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday to submit their bids to purchase the NBA franchise. Scott Cacciola of the New York Times and Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg both reportedly spoke to sources directly involved with the team’s sale, and suggested that the expedited deadline was set by Shelly and Donald Sterling and/or their legal representation.

The Sterlings are trying to sell the team quickly, before a June 3 meeting of NBA owners that will likely decide to give control of the franchise to the NBA. The league would then force a sale.

For one, Yao is an extremely wealthy individual. Since retiring from professional basketball in 2011, the Chinese ex-superstar has emerged as a prominent investor in China’s technology industry, and as of two years ago, had amassed a net worth of over $150 million.

Back in 2009, Yao purchased his former Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks, when the financially struggling franchise was on the brink of shuttering. He’s also taken college classes and started a winery since leaving the NBA, so he has the time to work on his passions.

Shelburne reports the one big hurdle is ensuring that the Sterling family sells its entire stake in the franchise:

In fact, the NBA released a statement Friday suggesting nothing has changed with their plans:

The NBA has issued a formal charge seeking to terminate Donald Sterling’s ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, the league announced on Monday. If the NBA Board of Governors approves the charge by a 3/4 majority, Sterling will forfeit his control and the team will be sold to new owners, pending any legal action Sterling takes against the league.

The vote is scheduled to take place on June 3. Sterling has until May 27 to respond to the charge.

Sterling recently hired Maxwell Blecher, a prominent antitrust lawyer, who wrote a letter to NBA executive vice president and general counsel Rick Buchanan saying he would refuse the current sanctions as his client does not warrant “any punishment at all.”

Buchanan sent a letter to Sterling on May 14 telling the Clippers owner to pay the $2.5 million fine announced by Silver last month. At that time, the league also announced that it would attempt to remove Sterling from ownership following the release of tapes containing audio of Sterling making offensive, racist remarks to his girlfriend.

Donald Sterling sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night and discussed a wide range of topics, including his thoughts on Magic Johnson and being set up by his girlfriend, V. Stiviano.

“I’m not a racist. I made a terrible, terrible mistake. I’m here with you today to apologize and ask for forgiveness,” Sterling said in his opening remarks to Cooper.

The league released a statement on Sunday night, detailing the rule:

The situation may not be resolved that easily as Shelly Sterling’s lawyer said they will fight that ruling, should it happen. Sterling’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell called the NBA’s statement a “self-serving interpretation” of the league constitution.