Donald Sterling Threatens To Sue NBA

Yes, we’re all a little tired of it. No, it’s not going away. As expected, it appears Donald Sterling and the NBA will be headed for a lengthy battle in court. This entire situation is going to get a lot more complicated before we reach a resolution.

According to Michael McCann of Sports Illustrated, Sterling has hired antitrust litigator Maxwell Blecher, who has informed the league his client does not intend to pay the $2.5 million fine and argues the NBA did not give Sterling due process:

SI.com has learned that Clippers owner Donald Sterling has hired prominent antitrust litigator Maxwell Blecher, who has written a letter to NBA executive vice president and general counsel Rick Buchanan threatening to sue the NBA. The letter, sources tell SI.com, claims that Sterling has done nothing wrong and that “no punishment is warranted” for Sterling. Blecher also tells Buchanan that Sterling will not pay the $2.5 million fine, which is already past due. Blecher ends the letter by saying this controversy “will be adjudicated.”

Blecher’s letter makes clear what many have anticipated: Donald Sterling will not go down without a fight and that he is taking active steps toward litigation. A letter of this type is considered a precursor to the filing of a lawsuit. Blecher’s letter offers no ambiguity about Sterling’s intentions.

“We reject your demand for payment,” the letter tells Buchanan, who on May 14 informed Sterling by letter that he must pay the $2.5 million fine.

One has to assume commissioner Adam Silver, a former lawyer himself, combed through the NBA’s institution before handing down a lifetime ban on Sterling while pressuring the board of governors to force Sterling’s sale of the Clippers. The fact Sterling has decided to take the league to court shouldn’t be a surprise at all.

The wild card in any legal battle between Sterling and the league is Shelly Sterling, who has signed divorce papers but is holding back from filing them. The motivation behind this, as speculated by many legal experts, is that if she does file and claim her ownership stake in the Clippers, it will become a frozen asset, and could leave the Clippers ownership situation in limbo for months, or years. By holding back, Shelly may be using the divorce as leverage against the league.

As just a standard legal battle between Donald Sterling and the NBA, this is complicated enough. When Silver threw the hammer down with the suspension and fine, he was universally applauded. Now comes the hard part. You have to wonder, with players like LeBron James hinting at a potential boycott, how the current roster of Clippers players will react if the Sterlings are still technically owning the team next season. The longer this drags out, the more headaches it will create for the league. Stay tuned.

(Sports Illustrated)

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