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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sterling ready to unleash lawyers

Clippers owner also said he won’t pay hefty fine

Curt Anderson Associated Press

A cadre of attorneys and a flurry of lawsuits could certainly slow down the NBA’s plan to force Donald Sterling to sell the Los Angeles Clippers over his recent racist comments, but legal experts say the league would likely prevail in the end.

And that goes for Sterling’s wife, Shelly, who has said she’d like to keep her stake in the team even if her husband is ousted.

The NBA’s constitution, which Donald Sterling signed as controlling owner of the Clippers, gives its board of governors broad latitude in league decisions including who owns the teams. NBA commissioner Adam Silver is pushing for a swift vote against Sterling, which requires a minimum of three-fourths of the other 29 controlling owners to agree.

Silver also has imposed a lifetime ban on Sterling and a $2.5 million fine. The ban does not apply to Shelly Sterling.

SI.com and ESPN.com, citing unidentified sources, reported Thursday that Sterling’s lawyer, antitrust litigator Maxwell Blecher, wrote a letter to Rick Buchanan, the NBA’s executive vice president and general counsel, threatening to sue the league and saying Sterling will not pay the $2.5 million fine.

“Sterling’s own signature will come back to haunt him,” said Michael McCann, founding director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire. “You agree to certain basic understandings. That’s what makes a sports league different from other businesses.”

The key to the NBA’s authority, attorneys say, is Article 13(d) of the league’s constitution. That section says that, whether Sterling intended to or not, an owner cannot “fail or refuse to fulfill” contractual obligations to the NBA “in such a way to affect the Association or its members adversely.”

There’s plenty of evidence Sterling’s comments affected the league adversely. They provoked threats of a player boycott, led sponsors to withdraw support and created a racially charged image problem in the midst of the NBA playoffs that even President Barack Obama remarked upon.