NBA cancels Sterling hearing after Clippers deal

Los Angeles • The NBA has called off a hearing to oust embattled Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Donald Sterling in advance of a vote on a potentially record-breaking deal negotiated by his wife, Shelly Sterling, to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion.

Shelly Sterling negotiated the deal despite objections expressed through her estranged husband's attorneys. She said in a statement late Thursday that she agreed to sell the team to Ballmer "under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers."

The NBA said in a statement Friday that the league, Shelly Sterling and The Sterling Family Trust had "resolved their dispute over the ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers."

"Under the agreement, the Clippers will be sold to Steve Ballmer, pending approval by the NBA Board of Governors, and the NBA will withdraw its pending charge to terminate the Sterlings' ownership of the team," it said.

But Donald Sterling is still fighting, filing suit in federal court against the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver and asking for damages in excess of $1 billion.

The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. It alleges that the league violated Sterling's constitutional rights by relying on information from an "illegal" recording that publicized racist remarks he made to a girlfriend.

It also says the league committed a breach of contract by fining Sterling $2.5 million and violated antitrust laws by forcing a sale.

"Mr. Sterling's lawsuit is predictable, but entirely baseless," NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan said. "Among other infirmities, there was no 'forced sale' of his team by the NBA — which means his antitrust and conversion claims are completely invalid. Since it was his wife Shelly Sterling, and not the NBA, that has entered into an agreement to sell the Clippers, Mr. Sterling is complaining about a set of facts that doesn't even exist."

The ownership hearing had been scheduled for next Tuesday after the NBA charged Sterling with damaging the league with his racist comments that were recorded and released. A three-quarters vote of owners to support the charge would have terminated the Sterlings' ownership, and the league would have sold the team.

Shelly Sterling reached an agreement to sell the team on Thursday night.

Donald Sterling was stripped of his ability to act as a trustee of the family's fortunes, including the Clippers, after two neurologists determined he was suffering from dementia earlier this month, according to a person close to the Sterling family.