Donald Sterling, banned from owning a pro basketball team for inflammatory remarks he made about African Americans, called the National Basketball Association's action illegal because it was based on a "lover's quarrel" that was "illegally recorded."
STERLING BANNED FOR LIFE BY NBA
"This was an argument between a jealous man and the woman he loved that should never have left the privacy of the living room," Sterling said in a letter to the NBA obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the letter.
In an attempt to strengthen his defense of unfair treatment by the NBA, Sterling compares the punishment he's received to that of Kobe Bryant's. The NBA fined the Los Angeles Lakers star $100,000 in 2011 for a gay slur he directed at a referee. ESPN.com.
Sterling, controlling owner of the Los Angeles Clippers for 33 years, came under fire after TMZ.com posted an audio recording of him criticizing a female friend for publicly associating with black people, including NBA great "Magic" Johnson.
The NBA said in a statement Tuesday night that it had received a response from Donald and Shelly Sterling regarding his termination, and added that the league's Board of Governors will hold a vote on eliminating Sterling's stake at a hearing set for June 3, when he can address the charges before his fellow owners.
If at least 23 of the other 29 owners vote to terminate Sterling's ownership of the franchise, the Clippers would have to be sold, the NBA said.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week he would prefer to let Donald Sterling and his wife Shelley Sterling sell the team "on a reasonable timetable" rather than proceed with trying to forcibly terminate their ownership.
Sterling handed controlling interest in his team to his wife, the co-owner, and she began negotiating with the league to sell the club, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources.
But Sterling's lawyer, Max Blecher, told ESPN on Tuesday that his client "is going to fight to the bloody end" and has effectively "disavowed" the agreement he reached with his wife last week that would allow her to negotiate a sale of the team.
"I don't know what agreement she has with him, but I'm saying to you today, he disavows anything she's doing to sell the team," Blecher said. "He says, 'It's my team, and I'll sell it when and if I get around to it.'"
Sterling said in the letter that he has received offers "in excess of $2.5 billion" for the team, but did not name potential buyers.
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