The New York Daily News said disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has filed a lawsuit against the National Basketball Association over the forced sale of his team franchise and the punishment he received for his racial remarks, which he believed were too harsh.
The 80 year-old said in the lawsuit that the sports league had violated his constitutional rights and is seeking a billion dollars in damages for the supposed "draconian" punishments. He also said that the NBA had ignored contract agreements had have committed antitrust violations based on the recordings of him in what appeared to be a debate with his rumored girlfriend about minorities.
The lawsuit came at the same time Sterling's wife, Shelly, her lawyer and the NBA had greenlighted the $2 billion sale of the team to a group headed by former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer.
In a statement, the NBA said, "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."
Shelly's deal with the NBA will also have the Sterling family to protect the sports league from any lawsuits filed against the latter in the future, which ironically those filed by family members like the octogenarian.
The sale of he Clipper franchise has sparked an intense bidding war from groups like a private consortium that had music mogul David Geffen and Oprah Winfrey as members, Daily News said. The 58 year-old Ballmer had offered the $2 billion price on Thursday, with Shelly doing much of the deal on behalf of her husband, whom she had declared mentally unfit to fulfill the role of the sports team owner.
Lawyer Rich Buchanan for the NBA believes that Sterling's lawsuit against the league was predictable, but is baseless, saying, "His wife ... not the NBA... entered into an agreement to sell the Clippers. Sterling is complaining about a set of facts that doesn't even exist."
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