Sterling vows to fight NBA bid on Clips
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, May 29, 2014
Donald Sterling on Tuesday vowed to fight the NBA's "illegal" efforts to terminate his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Sterling met the National Basketball Association's deadline for a response to its charge of racist conduct detrimental to the league, saying the recording of his racially charged remarks that ignited a firestorm in April were illegally made and can't be used to expel him from the league.
In his letter to the league, posted in full online by USA Today and Los Angeles Times, Sterling says he's received offers of more than US$2.5 billion for the team, but says a forced sale would result in an "egregious" tax burden for him and his family.
Sterling says that his remarks about African Americans were made in a private conversation with girlfriend V Stiviano, and that recording them without his knowledge was a crime under California law.
"This was an argument between a jealous man and the woman he loved that should never have left the privacy of the living room," Sterling says.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life from NBA facilities and activities and fined him US$2.5 million after the comments were made public via the gossip website TMZ in April.
Silver called for Sterling to be stripped of his ownership of the club — something that requires a vote of three-quarters of the remaining 29 owners.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass said the league had received responses from both Donald Sterling and his wife, Shelly Sterling, on Tuesday, and a hearing on the matter of terminating the current ownership interests of the Clippers remained set for June 3.
Even as the deadline for Sterling's response drew near, reports surfaced that Shelly Sterling was moving to sell the club, fielding inquiries from at least six serious bidders.
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