Donald Sterling drops $1 billion lawsuit, agrees to $2 billion Clippers sale

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is dropping his lawsuit against the NBA, and agreeing to the $2 billion sale of the team that the league had initiated after racist comments Sterling made to his girlfriend became public a month and a half ago.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is set to buy the Clippers, in a deal that was negotiated with Shelly Sterling, Donald's estranged wife and sole trustee of the Sterling family trust. Donald Sterling had initially resisted these decisions, and was suing the league for $1 billion.

The Los Angeles Times reports that in exchange for Sterling dropping his lawsuit, the NBA will in turn not file any lawsuits against him, and drop its own internal $2.5 million fine that it had levied against him, thus appearing to legally bring this matter to a close.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

In a brief interview Tuesday night with the local NBC station, Donald Sterling seemed accepting of the outcome: "I feel fabulous, I feel very good. Everything is just the way it should be, really. It may have worked out differently, but it's good. It's all good."