Los Angeles Clippers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Fallout From Ballmer’s Deal To Buy Clippers

May 30th, 2014 at 8:56am CST by Chuck Myron

Steve Ballmer’s $2 billion bid for the Clippers is set to smash the record sales price for an NBA team, set just two weeks ago when the NBA approved the $550MM sale of the Bucks. The deal faces hurdles, including the NBA’s official OK, but the former Microsoft CEO seems ready to take the helm.

“I love basketball,” Ballmer said in a statement, as ESPN.com notes. “And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win — and win big — in Los Angeles. L.A. is one of the world’s great cities — a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness. I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community.”

Here’s more in the wake of the deal between Ballmer and Shelly Sterling:

Bobby Samini, one of many attorneys for Donald Sterling, insisted Thursday afternoon to Andrea Chang of the Los Angeles Times that there will be no sale without a signature from the banned Clippers owner. That’s despite a ruling from mental health experts that Donald Sterling is incapacitated, which transfers power over the Clippers to Shelly Sterling according to the rules of the Sterling family trust.
All involved with the sale are bracing for a legal challenge from Donald Sterling, but they’re confident the deal will come to fruition, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
The arrangement would give Ballmer 100% ownership of the team, but he agreed to let Shelly Sterling continue to associate with the franchise in some capacity other than ownership, ESPN.com reports.
The Sterlings will have to pay $662MM in capital gains taxes on the sale, accountant Robert Raiola tells ESPN.com for the same piece.
The deal drew a thumbs-up from some Clippers players, including Blake Griffin, who spoke to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. “I think it’s a great move for us,” Griffin said. “I think it’s putting the final piece to the puzzle together. It kind of allows everybody to go back to focusing on the real goal, and that’s putting 100% of everything into winning a championship for Los Angeles from our side.”
Other players around the league, including Ty Lawson and Andrew Bogut, took to Twitter to marvel at the $2 billion price tag and express misgivings about the NBA’s assertion during 2011 collective bargaining agreement talks that teams were losing money (hat tip to Grantland’s Zach Lowe).
The NBA has wanted Ballmer as an owner since the SuperSonics left Seattle, so the league probably sees this deal as a win, observes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (on Twitter). It’s probably a loss for Seattle, tweets Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, as Ballmer was the primary financial backer of last year’s bid for the Kings. Ballmer has said he wouldn’t move the Clippers out of Los Angeles.

NBA Willing To Postpone Sterling Hearing

May 29th, 2014 at 3:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:20pm: Ballmer is the early favorite in the bidding process, Shelburne tweets.

2:39pm: The NBA will postpone its Tuesday hearing on Donald Sterling’s fate as owner of the Clippers if the league gets a “favorable impression” of the bidding group that emerges as Shelly Sterling’s choice, reports Michael McCann of SI.com. The league would keep the hearing on hold while it vetted the prospective owners, and, if it approves them, there’d presumably be no need for the hearing, since Sterling and wife Shelly Sterling would no longer own the team. The league’s preferred outcome is for the Sterlings to voluntarily sell the team, as it would like to avoid having to forcibly strip ownership, according to McCann.

The NBA is intent on resolving the Clippers ownership situation by the beginning of next season, McCann writes. The vetting process usually takes at least a month, though the NBA has already screened some of the candidates to buy the team, as TNT’s David Aldridge noted Wednesday. One such bidder is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, though there are conflicting reports about whether he’s submitted a bid to Shelly Sterling, who began working with potential buyers last week after Donald Sterling gave her his blessing to do so. He’s apparently changed his mind and will only sell the team if the NBA withdraws its allegations against him, with perhaps further conditions attached to his would-be cooperation.

The NBA was to vote on taking the team away from the Sterlings at the end of Tuesday’s Board of Governors meeting. Donald Sterling is still pondering a lawsuit against the NBA, which banned him for life and fined him $2.5MM. Shelly Sterling is willing to sell 100% of the team, which the league would demand if it were to accept any deal she strikes, though she’s arranging for a non-ownership role with the team as part of negotiations with the bidders. It’s unclear if the NBA would go along with that.

Latest On Potential Clippers Sale

May 29th, 2014 at 2:22pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:22pm: Shelly Sterling is arranging for a continued association with the team in some capacity other than as owner as she negotiates with the bidders, according to Shelburne. The ESPN scribe also reports that Magic Johnson is not a part of the Ellison-Geffen-Winfrey bid at present (Twitter links).

1:36pm: A source tells Ronald Grover of Reuters that Ballmer has not submitted a bid, while Grover also hears that the value of the Ellison-Geffen-Winfrey group bid is more than $1.5 billion.

12:28pm: Shelly Sterling has let bidders for the Clippers know that she intends to sell 100% of the Clippers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. That would seemingly satisfy one of the league’s conditions for allowing her to conduct the sale of the club, but Donald Sterling intends to put up resistance. Attorney Maxwell Blecher, one of Donald Sterling’s lawyers, tells Shelburne that the banned owner changed his mind and doesn’t want to sell the team after deciding last week to let his wife do so (Twitter link). Blecher tells James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times that if Donald Sterling were to agree to sell the club, he’d want the NBA to drop its allegations against him and perhaps make additional concessions.

Some bidders are concerned in the wake of Donald Sterling’s renewed fight that he’s just trying to gauge the market price of the team for use in a lawsuit against the NBA, Shelburne hears. Still, Blecher informed Shelburne that Donald Sterling hasn’t decided whether he wants to sue the league (Twitter links).

Three groups have already submitted initial bids to Shelly Sterling, as Rainey details. A consortium that includes Los Angeles investors Antony Ressler, Bruce Karsh and Grant Hill has bid $1.2 billion. People within the league see the group as viable, and Ressler is reportedly a longtime friend of Donald Sterling. Another bid comes from Todd Boehly and Mark Walter of the Guggenheim Partners and includes Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and luminaries David Geffen and Oprah Winfrey. Magic Johnson would presumably be aligned with that group, though Rainey makes no mention of the one-time Lakers star. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mounted a bid of his own, and it’s worth $1.8 billion, according to Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com.

A couple of other groups received extensions on a Wednesday deadline, so more bids are expected today, and negotiations will persist this weekend toward Shelly Sterling’s goal of having a deal in place or reasonably close by Monday, Shelburne reports (Twitter links). The NBA’s Board of Governors will hold a hearing on the Sterling matter Tuesday, and the meeting is set to end with a vote on whether to strip ownership from both of the Sterlings. It remains to be seen whether the league will approve any sale that Shelly Sterling presents to them or just how Donald Sterling’s interference will affect the proceedings.

Darren Collison To Opt Out, Become Free Agent

May 29th, 2014 at 8:27am CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers point guard Darren Collison has decided to turn down the nearly $1.986MM player option on his contract and hit free agency this summer, a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com. The move has been widely expected after a season in which Collison turned around his career, proving his worth as an ace reserve after failing as a starter the past two seasons.

The client of BDA Sports Management has a strong preference for the Clippers, though he won’t rule out signing with another team, according to Haynes. The Donald Sterling saga clouds the future of the Clippers franchise, and agents have suggested that players will avoid signing with the team this summer. However, the fiasco surrounding the banned owner’s racist comments strengthened the bond between the players in the locker room, and it’s what has Collison leaning toward returning, Haynes hears.

The 26-year-old averaged 11.4 points in a career-low 25.9 minutes per game this past season. Most of his appearances were as a bench player, but he still made 35 starts as the team compensated for injuries to Chris Paul and J.J. Redick. His 3.7 assists per game were well below his career average of 4.9, but much of that had to do with the presence of Paul, the NBA’s leader in assists per game this season. Collison shot 37.6% from behind the arc this past season, his best mark since he was a rookie in 2009/10.

The Clippers were in serious talks about a trade that would have sent him to the Knicks at the deadline, but L.A. pulled out of discussions before they bore fruit. Clippers coach and front office chief Doc Rivers spoke highly of Collison during the season, suggesting he was reluctant to give up such a reliable member of his bench.

He’ll be able to command a raise on the open market, and the capped-out Clippers only have his Non-Bird rights. The most they’ll be able to pay him without dipping into other exceptions would be 120% of his salary from this past season, which probably won’t be enough to keep him. The team has more than $66MM in commitments for next season, though that doesn’t include nearly $4MM in non-guaranteed salary on Jamal Crawford‘s salary that the Clippers will almost certainly pick up. The rise in the projected tax line to $77MM will probably allow the team to use the full $5.305MM non-taxpayer’s mid-level to re-sign Collison or chase another free agent.

Latest On Sterlings, Clippers

May 28th, 2014 at 9:26pm CST by Cray Allred

9:26pm: Shelly Sterling and her advisers are reviewing the initial bids from five groups interested in purchasing the Clippers, according to an article by the Sports Xchange (via The Chicago Tribune). The bids are in the $1 billion to $1.2 billion range, the article notes.

WEDNESDAY, 8:36am: Shelly Sterling has set a deadline of this morning for initial bids on the Clippers, according to Shelburne, and she’s seeking binding bids before Tuesday’s Board of Governors hearing, report Brian Mahoney and Tami Abdollah of The Associated Press. Still, it’s unclear whether the league would accept any sale that she attempts to orchestrate. Donald Sterling wants June 3rd hearing dismissed and denies every charge the NBA has levied against him, Shelburne notes. The banned Clippers owner threatens legal action, claims he would be unable to receive a fair hearing and says he never intended to hurt the league with his racially charged statements, as Shelburne writes.

In claiming that the league is treating him inequitably, Sterling points to a gay slur that Kobe Bryant once directed at a referee. That argument likely doesn’t hold water, since players are governed by the collective bargaining agreement, rather than the league’s constitution and by-laws, which sets forth rules for owners, as Michael McCann of SI.com explains. Sterling also references the actions of Magic owner Rich DeVos, who has, according to Sterling, “made highly controversial comments against individuals with HIV/AIDS and generously supports anti-homosexual causes,” Shelburne reports.

TUESDAY, 10:19pm: Shelly Sterling’s statement has been issued, but the NBA plans to move forward with the June 3rd vote, tweets Shelburne.

Donald Sterling’s lawyer tells Shelburne that his client disavows the agreement he has with Shelly Sterling to sell the team for him, and will fight being forced to sell the team “to the bloody end” (Twitter links). For what it’s worth, the lawyer was unaware of the specifics of the agreement between the Sterlings, and Donald Sterling’s strategy has been anything but steady to this point.

8:15pm: Donald Sterling has issued a response to the NBA’s charges against him, maintaining his claim that the league’s attempt to oust him from owning the Clippers is illegal, reports Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today. Shelly Sterling is planning to issue her own statement asserting her position as a bystander, a source tells Schrotenboer. The deadline to respond to the NBA’s charges is tonight, and the league is set to vote on the commissioner’s plan to remove the Sterlings from ownership on June 3.

Shelly Sterling, whom Donald Sterling (but not the league) authorized to manage the sale of the team, has enlisted Bank of America in efforts to sell the team prior to the June 3 vote. She is in talks with at least six bidders that Ramona Shelburne and Darren Rovell of ESPN.com have learned of. She received a “strong” offer from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to purchase the team and keep it in Los Angeles, a person familiar with the negotiations tells Schrotenboer. Donald Sterling’s statement asserts that he has already received offers of over $2.5 billion for the team, per Schrotenboer.

The league would have to approve any sale of the team, and a spokesman reiterated to Scott Cacciola of The New York Times that it would only authorize a voluntary sale in which the Sterlings didn’t retain any interest in the team. While Shelly Sterling’s lawyer told Cacciola that she is working in cooperation with the league on the sale, there is no indication that she is no longer working to keep a minority stake in the team.

Pacific Notes: Clippers, Lakers, Young, Suns

May 28th, 2014 at 4:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The NBA received a letter from one of Donald Sterling’s personal lawyers last week informing the league of his intention to allow his wife to conduct a sale of the Clippers, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com reports in the latest version of her story from overnight. That runs counter to the assertion from another of Sterling’s lawyers Tuesday that his client “disavows” any agreement with his wife on the sale of the team. There’s more on the Clippers amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

Shelly Sterling appears to be racing to close on a deal with a bidder for the Clippers in advance of Tuesday’s hearing to oust her and her husband, but the NBA would have to vet any new owner, a process that won’t be done by next week, TNT’s David Aldridge tweets. Still, the league has already vetted potential buyers Larry Ellison, Steve Ballmer and Lakers minority owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, Aldridge notes, so perhaps those three have an edge (Twitter link).
A source close to Nick Young tells Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders that the swingman wants to return to the Lakers but will likely opt out of his contract for next season, seconding earlier reports.
Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com adds the Suns to the list of teams working out Jarnell Stokes (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Draft, Yao, LeBron

May 27th, 2014 at 10:44pm CST by Cray Allred

James McAdoo, Roscoe Smith, James Bell, Chris Fouch, Luke Hancock, and Niels Giffey all worked out for the Sixers today, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. All project to be selected in the second round at best, where Philadelphia owns five draft picks. Here’s a roundup of the night’s news, including plenty from the draft:

The Bucks are having some difficulty scheduling pre-draft workouts with Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins, and Jabari Parker, director of scouting Billy McKinney tells Charles F. Gardner of The Journal Sentinel. “I still think there’s a lot of thinking on their agents’ part of, ‘Hey, he’s not going to be there [at No. 2].'” McKinney said. “We’re going to have to be a little creative…which you have to do certain times to go out and get your private discussion and workouts in. That’s all part of it.”
C.J. Fair will workout for the Bucks and Hornets this week, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Wally Judge will work out for the Jazz, tweets Zagoria.
A front office executive tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest that P.J. Hairston is expected to go either late in the first round, or early in the second.
Former Pelicans forward Lance Thomas will be among players participating in a mini-camp at the Nets facility next week, Zagoria reports (via Twitter).
Yao Ming earlier denied reports that he was assembling an investment group to purchase the Clippers, but told news outlets including ChinaDaily USA that he won’t rule out the possibility he will. “I know there are a lot of rumors, but I don’t think I have time to clarify the rumors one by one,” Yao said. “Nowadays, sports are globalized, and anything is possible, but so far, there is nothing substantial.”
In the case that LeBron James decides to opt out and leave the Heat in the offseason, Dwyane Wade doesn’t want the blame to be laid on his performance or health issues, he told Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. “Just don’t solely put it on me,” Wade said, laughing. “That’s what I’m saying. Don’t put the X on me… There’s a lot that goes into [the decision], so just don’t say, ‘If Dwyane Wade doesn’t have the year that we’re accustomed to, it’s over.'”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Jazz, Cavs Plan Interviews With Gentry, Griffin

May 26th, 2014 at 5:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

MONDAY, 5:20pm: The Cavaliers have scheduled an interview with Adrian Griffin for Tuesday, reports Bob Finnan of The Morning Journal (hat tip to Sam Amick of USA Today). GM David Griffin will also be meeting with Vinny Del Negro, Lionel Hollins, Gentry, and Tyronn Lue later this week, the article notes.

SUNDAY, 9:40am: Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that Gentry had interviewed with the Cavaliers and the Jazz earlier this month for their vacant head coaching positions.

THURSDAY, 7:41am: The Cavs have asked the Clippers for permission to interview Gentry, the Plain Dealer reports (Twitter link). I’d be surprised if it wasn’t granted, since it appears as though L.A. gave Utah the green light.

WEDNESDAY, 4:37pm: The Jazz are expected to interview Clippers assistant Alvin Gentry for their head coaching vacancy, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. The Cavs have made contact with Gentry, too, but they haven’t arranged for an interview, according to Spears. Utah has completed an interview with Bulls assistant Adrian Griffin after receiving permission from Chicago to speak with him last week, Spears adds.

Gentry hadn’t been among the candidates formally linked to Utah, which is planning an extensive search and more than 20 interviews. Lionel Hollins, John Stockton, Jim Boylen, Ettore Messina, Brad Jones and Quin Snyder are other names in the mix. The Jazz are reportedly unlikely to hire someone with NBA head coaching experience, which perhaps makes Gentry a darkhorse, given that he spent parts of 12 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Heat, Pistons, Clippers and Suns.

The Cavs appear to have Gentry high on their list, and he worked with Cavs GM David Griffin in Phoenix, as Spears points out. The Warriors and Kings have interest in Gentry as an assistant coach, according to Spears, who notes that Gentry remains under contract with the Clippers.

Western Rumors: Clippers, Hill, Mincberg, Pera

May 26th, 2014 at 2:57pm CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling met Sunday with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who was part of a bid to move the Kings to Seattle last year, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, seconding an earlier report from TMZ Sports. Still, Sterling wouldn’t consider selling the team to anyone who would move it from Los Angeles, according to Shelburne, and the league has given no indication it will allow Sterling to facilitate the sale of the team, as her husband, banned owner Donald Sterling, would like. Shelburne has more on the Clippers, which we’ll pass along amid our look at the latest around the West:

People within the league regard Grant Hill’s bid to buy the Clippers as a viable one, according to Shelburne. Hill’s consortium includes Antony Ressler, who’s reportedly a longtime friend of Donald Sterling.
The Grizzlies have said that David Mincberg is only a scout and will have no significant front office role from now on, according to TNT’s David Aldridge. Mincberg, whom the team lists on its website as its director of scouting, reportedly had a growing influence over the team’s basketball decisions and has been at odds with coach Dave Joerger.
Grizzlies owner Robert Pera took to Twitter to deny the assertions in an earlier report from Chris Mannix of SI.com in which Pera is said to have demanded more playing time for soon-to-be free agent Ed Davis, among other, more unusual suggestions.

Lakers To Interview Alvin Gentry

May 26th, 2014 at 11:17am CST by Chuck Myron

Clippers assistant Alvin Gentry spoke to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak by phone Friday, and he’ll sit down with Kupchak and co-owner Jim Buss on Wednesday to interview for the head coaching job, reports Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. A weekend report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com indicated that Gentry had already interviewed with the Cavs and Jazz, and Gentry will take another meeting with the Cavs this coming Friday, Turner adds. Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com first identified Gentry as having been on the initial list that the Lakers compiled in the wake of Mike D’Antoni‘s resignation.

Mike Dunleavy and Byron Scott have already interviewed for the Lakers job, while an interview with Lionel Hollins is also on the team’s agenda this week. Scott is the only one of the four who isn’t also being sought by other teams. Dunleavy met with Knicks president Phil Jackson about the coaching job in New York, while Hollins has spoken with the Wolves and appears to have an interview with the Cavs on tap, too. He was set to speak with the Warriors before they landed Steve Kerr, and it seemed there was an outside chance he would wind up in his old job with the Grizzlies before they patched up their differences with Dave Joerger.

All four Lakers interviewees are experienced NBA head coaches. Gentry is 335-370 in parts of a dozen seasons in the league, the last of which was 2012/13, when the Suns cut ties with him after 41 games. He’s only coached a team to the playoffs on two occasions, including 2010, when the Lakers eliminated his Suns in the Western Conference Finals. Still, the Lakers are high on his ability to orchestrate an offense, Turner hears.