Clippers officially sold to Steve Ballmer

[fairweatherfan]

Surprised to not see a topic on this during a slow week.  Whatever legal slapfights are still to come, the deal's done and Sterling no longer owns the Clippers, with only the lion's share of $2 billion to console him.


http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11343259/steve-ballmer-officially-new-owner-los-angeles-clippers

[Clench123]

That is an outrageous price for a team like Clippers.  But when your net worth is around 20 Bill, I guess I doesn't matter

[Lucky17]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/30/are-the-clippers-really-worth-2-billion-five-things-that-drove-up-the-price/

Current broadcasting contract expires in 2016. Ballmer will recoup a good chunk of money with a new deal. Maybe not the $3 billion/20 years that the Lakers recently got, but still.

[D.o.s.]

I bumped the other thread, but yeah, this deserves its own bit.

Sterling never had a chance to keep the team.

[hpantazo]

The fact that Sterling didn't want to sell the Clippers for 2 billion dollars alone is enough evidence to question his mental state and his ability to make decisions.

[fairweatherfan]

The fact that Sterling didn't want to sell the Clippers for 2 billion dollars alone is enough evidence to question his mental state and his ability to make decisions.

Who knows what really happened but my impression was he was cool with selling it but got really spiteful when he found out it wouldn't negate his fine and lifetime ban from NBA events.

[hpantazo]

The fact that Sterling didn't want to sell the Clippers for 2 billion dollars alone is enough evidence to question his mental state and his ability to make decisions.

Who knows what really happened but my impression was he was cool with selling it but got really spiteful when he found out it wouldn't negate his fine and lifetime ban from NBA events.

Sure, but selling one of the all time worst franchises in the NBA for 2 billion, when you had bought it for 12.5 million , should have anyone jumping for joy regardless

[hwangjini_1]

i guess all that is left to hope for is that ballmer is both a very, very hands on owner, and, an incompetent basketball mind. 

[D.o.s.]

The fact that Sterling didn't want to sell the Clippers for 2 billion dollars alone is enough evidence to question his mental state and his ability to make decisions.

Who knows what really happened but my impression was he was cool with selling it but got really spiteful when he found out it wouldn't negate his fine and lifetime ban from NBA events.

Sure, but selling one of the all time worst franchises in the NBA for 2 billion, when you had bought it for 12.5 million , should have anyone jumping for joy regardless

That assumes Donald Sterling is not an evil toad motivated purely by spite and a feeling that he's been wronged by the league.

Bold assumption, in my view.

[colincb]

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11350257/donald-sterling-appeal-sale-los-angeles-clippers-denied

The appeal, a writ of supersedeas and request for an immediate stay, was Sterling's last-ditch maneuver to block the sale of the franchise to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

[colincb]

http://www.si.com/nba/2014/08/27/donald-sterling-clippers-deadline-steve-ballmer

"In a development that makes Donald Sterling reacquiring the Los Angeles Clippers virtually impossible, court records indicate that Sterling failed to petition the California Supreme Court for review by Monday’s deadline. The failure means that Sterling has run out of legal options in California to force former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to return the franchise to him.

Under California law, Sterling had 10 business days from Aug. 13 – the date an intermediate appellate court summarily rejected Sterling’s two petitions for the $2 billion sale of the Clippers be halted or reversed – to petition the California Supreme Court with the same request.  It would have been a long shot request, to be sure, but Sterling was entitled to give it a try.  By allowing the deadline to pass without a petition to the California Supreme Court, Sterling effectively acquiesces to Ballmer’s ownership of the team.

On one hand, Sterling’s inaction is stunning given his litigious past and reputation for trying every legal move imaginable.  This is, after-all, the same Donald Sterling who earlier in the summer described NBA officials as “despicable monsters” and who vowed a “fight to the bloody end” to keep the Clippers.  On the other hand, Sterling’s capitulation is consistent with his more recent comments to TMZ.com when he lamented, “I’m finished. I’m over.” When it comes to owning the Clippers, Sterling is indeed finished."

===

In any case, the value of our 2015 pick from the LAC will now be decided on court rather than in it.

[fairweatherfan]

It's weird since a lot of legal experts around here assured us that there's no way Sterling would lose the team without a long, ugly court battle that the NBA would almost certainly lose.

[D.o.s.]

It's weird since a lot of legal experts around here assured us that there's no way Sterling would lose the team without a long, ugly court battle that the NBA would almost certainly lose.

Weird is a good word for it.

[D.o.s.]

Also, for the last time:
Donald Sterling is a waste of natural resources, as well as a wasted expenditure of time, effort, and emotional/intellectual involvement. the NBA is immeasurably better off without him.