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The New York Daily News reports that banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling intends to sue the NBA for its efforts to remove him from ownership, to the surprise of absolutely no one.
LOS ANGELES — Donald Sterling won’t go down without a fight, according to an NBA executive who is close to the disgraced owner of the Clippers, and will sue the league if the other 29 owners vote to force him to sell.
The wheels are in motion to remove Sterling, a process that the executive said Wednesday night would lead to a lawsuit by the disgraced owner, possibly tying up the future of the team for years.
“He is not going to sell the team,” the executive said.
As the Daily News reported Wednesday, if Sterling sues, he would likely base his case on language in the NBA constitution that deals with conduct that constitutes “willful acts,” a term that can be difficult to interpret and enforce. Generally those acts include criminal behavior, financial instability or gambling or fixing games.
“He’ll sue and it’ll take years to settle,” said the source close to Sterling.
via Donald Sterling set to fight NBA ban with lawsuit to block sale of Clippers: source - NY Daily News.
Sterling reportedly said Tuesday after the decision that the team isn't for sale, but that didn't stop the NBA advisory committee from moving forward with plans to terminate his ownership agreement. The question will be how long this process takes to decide, and there's way too much involved in that to predict when this whole messy affair comes to an end, or how.
HT: CBS LA
