Former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banned for life from the NBA, has agreed to sign off on selling the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the AP is reporting.
Late last week, news broke that Ballmer had inked a deal to buy the team for a record-breaking $2 billion.
A source told the LA Times that Ballmer outbid LA-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh, as well as a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Geffen Group reportedly offered $1.6 billion for the team, with Ressler bidding $1.2 billion.
But the deal was held up because Sterling was going to sue the NBA for a whopping $1 billion for allegedly "forcing" him to sell the Clippers. He accused the NBA of breach of contract, violating his constitutional rights, conversion, and breaking antitrust law.
But Sterling's attorney, Maxwell Blecher, told the AP that Sterling "has made an agreement with the NBA to resolve all their differences." Blecher says that the suit will be dismissed.
Sterling was banned from the NBA for life last month after an audio tape of him making racist remarks to his girlfriend was leaked to the press.
There's one more hurdle for the deal to go through: at least three-quarters of the 29 other NBA team owners must sign off on it. They're expected to approve the deal, however, if Ballmer agrees to keep the team in Los Angeles, which he has stated publicly that he will do. Ballmer lives in Seattle, but he told the Wall Street Journal, "If I get interested in the Clippers, it would be for Los Angeles."