The Clippers Bidding War Is On!

*UPDATE - 5/29/14 4:45pm - Steve Ballmer, the only investor not to seek out other partners, is reported to have placed the highest bid at $2 billion dollars. Reported to have bought the team but awaiting confirmation.
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The Los Angeles Clippers bidding war is in full effect with some of the biggest heavyweights in the business world all throwing their money in the ring.

Shelly Sterling is receiving bids from some of the deepest pockets in the world and the numbers being thrown her way are astounding. The sale is expected to break the $1 billion dollar mark, which would make this the biggest sale of an NBA franchise.

The franchise was initially purchase by Donald Sterling in 1981 for roughly $13 million dollars. The Sterling’s may be getting the boot from the NBA but it sure looks like its one of the plushest boots of all time.

No matter who buys the team Donald and Shelly will still have quadrupled their money a few times over. It's strange that a guy like Donald Sterling can run a franchise into the ground for the majority of his ownership but because of the location he is still going to leave like a bandit.

One of the groups that are attempting to purchase the franchise is led by music mogul David Geffen and also includes Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs widow Laurene Jobs, and Beats by Dre co-founder Jimmy Iovine. That group, as you would assume, will make a healthy bid but may not be the highest bid.

The highest reported bid so far has already exceeded the $1 billion dollar mark. It is rumored that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has made an initial bid of $1.8 billion dollars.

If you remember Steve Ballmer was part of the group led by Chris Hansen that was attempting to bring the NBA back to Seattle. Some believe that Ballmer making the bid for the Clippers is an indication that he may have been told that bringing the NBA back to Seattle will not be happening anytime soon. 

He has already stated he has no plans on moving the Clippers if he is able to buy the franchise because of the hot Los Angeles market and TV revenue.

Another group in the run for the Clippers is led by former NBA All-Star Grant Hill and billionaire investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh.

The NBA had a conference call to further discuss the Sterling situation and will hold their vote to remove Donald Sterling from the NBA on Tuesday.

Donald Sterling is making things as difficult as he possibly can for the NBA and has sent letters to the NBA saying he plans on fighting this "To the bloody end". It is looking more and more like it may not just be a racist running the Clippers, but also a man who is just plain out losing it all together. 

After sending a SIGNED letter to his wife Shelly, as well as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, saying that he gives Shelly permission to sell the team, he has gone back and said she is not allowed and that he never signed any such letter. 

Well unfortunately for Donald, he in fact not only signed the letter but his lawyer has as well. Next to his signature Sterling also wrote "read and approved".

Donald Sterling will still put up a fight since he is an attorney himself, the type of attorney who loves debating in the courtroom.

As much as he tries to fight the ousting from the NBA he will still be selling the team, and if it goes the way commissioner Silver hopes than it should be done quick.

One anonymous bidder said that the process is moving quickly and we could know who the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers will be by Friday. The fact that the bidders consist of multiple billionaires, this deal could potentially be sold 80% cash and less than 20% financed, which will make it easier to evaluate each groups bid.

Now we sit back and relax and let the Los Angeles Clippers bidding war unfold.

Shelly Sterling Not Willing To Part Ways With Clippers

Donald Sterling may be on his way out of the NBA, but Sterling's estranged wife Shelly is not so willing to party ways with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Shelly Sterling has decided that she is not willing to give up her portion of the Clippers ownership and has already hired an attorney to fight for her stake in the organization.

Shelly has been co-owner of the Clippers since Donald first purchased the franchise in 1981 and is one of two alternate governors of the franchise. The other would be team president Andy Roeser who began his indefinite leave of absence earlier this week.

Shelly has hired attorney Pierce O'Donnell to represent her in this case and O'Donell has already come out to say his client, Shelly Sterling, will fight to retain her ownership stake in the Los Angeles Clippers.

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked how he felt about Shelly retaining her ownership of the franchise. Rivers said that "I think it would be a very hard situation, I'll say that much. I think it would be very difficult. I guarantee you every person wouldn't be on board with it. Whether I would or not, I'm not going to say, I just know that would be a very difficult situation for everybody."

Rivers said that allowing Shelly to retain her ownership would be difficult because of her relationship with Donald "because we wouldn't know who was really in charge."

Rivers wouldn't elaborate too much further than that since he is in the middle of a playoff series against NBA MVP Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This has the possibility of turning into an even uglier situation than it has already been for the NBA. The commissioner and the rest of the owners need to settle this problem fast.

The NBA players were already planning a walk-out on the NBA's biggest stage, the playoffs, but didn't feel the need to after Sterling was banned for life. However, if a Sterling family member is still the owner once this is all said and done then it would still be a possibility that the players fulfill their previous plan.

The NBA reportedly believes that they have enough legal ground to force Donald Sterling to sell his franchise based on multiple contracts Sterling made with the NBA, including agreeing that an owner will not take any position or action that will materially and adversely affect a team or the league, and clearly he broke that contract.

Sterling also signed moral clauses, which state that each owner will be held to the highest standards of ethical and moral behavior.

As long as the board of governors can influence 75% of the owners in the NBA that Sterling broke these contracts then the NBA will be getting rid of such a black eye to the league. That should be the easy part since all of the owners across the NBA have already come out to support NBA commissioner Adam Silver's decision to force Sterling out of the ownership group.

So getting rid of Donald should be the easy part, barring any judicial setbacks since he is an attorney that loves courtroom debates. Shelly Sterling on the other hand, may be the real thorn in the NBA's side when it comes to getting new ownership for the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Donald Sterling Situation

I'm sure you are well aware of the TMZ report that came out late last week that purportedly had Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making some very disturbing, and racist remarks.

Here is one of Sterling's notorious quotes from the conversation, "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people... Do you have to?"

TMZ first broke the story late last week about an audio recording they obtained that has what is believed to be Donald Sterling having a conversation with his former girlfriend V. Stiviano. 

The conversation was regarding Stiviano posting a picture to her Instagram account with NBA legend Magic Johnson. Sterling was upset that Stiviano would publicize her friendship with Magic Johnson on Instagram because he was a black man. 

I am not sure if Sterling is aware of most of his employees but a majority of them happen to have the same skin color as the man he abolished his girlfriend from taking pictures with.

DeadSpin.com was able to get a hold of an extended version of the conversation, almost 15 minutes long. In the extended version, what is believed to be Sterling, is making comments about how he "supports" these players.

Here is an excerpt from the recording, "I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have—Who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners, that created the league? 

The two went back and forth in the audio with Sterling digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole with every word that come from his mouth.

Shelly Sterling, Donald's estranged wife that he had been separated from for years, has stood up against Donald Sterling. She said, "Our family is devastated by the racist comments made by my estranged husband.  My children and I do not share these despicable views or prejudices."

This isn't the first time Donald Sterling has come under fire for racist remarks.

In 2009 an article in ESPN: The Magazine had a former property supervisor saying that Donald Sterling would not rent to Blacks, Latinos and people with children.

Here is a quick excerpt from that article:

When Sterling first bought the Ardmore, he remarked on its odor to Davenport. "That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean," he said, according to Davenport's testimony. "And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day." He added: "So we have to get them out of here." Shortly after, construction work caused a serious leak at the complex. When Davenport surveyed the damage, she found an elderly woman, Kandynce Jones, wading through several inches of water in Apartment 121. Jones was paralyzed on the right side and legally blind. She took medication for high blood pressure and to thin a clot in her leg. Still, she was remarkably cheerful, showing Davenport pictures of her children, even as some of her belongings floated around her.

Elgin Baylor, a former Clippers general manager and NBA legend, has had some problems with Sterling as well. In 2009 a wrongful-termination lawsuit was filed by Baylor who said that Sterling had a "plantation mentality." The reason why Baylor was filing the lawsuit was regarding an instance where Sterling said, "Personally, I would like to have a white Southern coach coaching poor black players." Baylor said he was shocked at what he was hearing when Sterling replied, "Do you think that's a racist statement?" and that's when Baylor told him, "Absolutely. That's plantation mentality."

The news has been referenced by everybody in the NBA universe, from the Los Angeles Clippers and their coach Doc Rivers, to the greatest player of all time and owner of the Charlotte Bobcats Michael Jordan. Even our commander and chief Barack Obama has responded to this issue when he was asked during a trip to Malaysia over the weekend.

As of right now the options on the table that I am hearing are he can sell the team to someone, say Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners. 

Another option would be to suspend the owner. The repercussions that would come from that could be tremendous seeing as how the entire nation believes this man to be an abomination to everything in the NBA and what it stands for.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who hasn't even been on the job for six months, has to make a decision that will impact his entire career as the commissioner.

Now we must wait on Silver's decision which should come by Tuesday. The decision is an easy one and has been echoed throughout the NBA. That message is that Donald Sterling has no business in the NBA and should be forced out immediately.

Only Adam Silver knows exactly what will come next in this process I just hope he understands that allowing a man like Donald Sterling to continue his business in the NBA is a very, very bad look.


*UPDATE:
Adam Silver has made his decision and the punishment for Donald 
Sterling is a lifetime ban from the Clippers Organization, a $2.5 million fine that is the highest allowed in the NBA constitution, and Silver will be urging every owner in the NBA to force Sterling to sell the Los Angeles Clippers.

It shouldn't be hard to convince the rest of the owners in the NBA since most of them have already came out condemning Sterling's remarks.

How do you feel about his penalties? Do they fit? I would love to hear your take on this whole situation so drop a comment!