NBA Board of Governors vote on the Clippers remains on, for now
Steve Ballmer has reached an agreement to buy the Clippers, but the NBA’s Board of Governors meeting remains scheduled until the proper paperwork is filed.
With an NBA Board of Governors meeting looming on June 3, Shelly Sterling expedited the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers in an effort to sell the team before the other 29 owners could vote to strip the Sterling's ownership. While the Sterlings reached an agreement with Steve Ballmer to sell the team for $2 billion, the Board of Governors meeting remains scheduled until the proper paperwork is filed, according to a release from the NBA:
Commissioner Silver has consistently said the preferred outcome to the Clippers proceeding would be a voluntary sale of the team. Shelly Sterling advised the NBA last night that an agreement had been reached with Steve Ballmer, and the NBA Advisory/Finance Committee met via conference call this morning to discuss these developments. We await the submission of necessary documentation from Mrs. Sterling. In the meantime, the June 3 special meeting of the NBA Board of Governors remains as scheduled.
While the meeting is in place as of now, that could change in the coming days. According to a recent report from Michael McCann of Sports Illustrated, the NBA would be willing to postpone the hearing if Sterling presents the league with a completed sale agreement and the NBA has a "favorable impression" of the price and prospective ownership group. Ballmer is not unfamiliar to the NBA, having attempted to purchase the Sacramento Kings last year, and it would be hard to imagine the league could have issue with the record-setting $2 billion price. If neither pose an issue and the required paperwork is submitted, the league could postpone the meeting to conduct a full vetting process.
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.
