Donald Sterling plans to still sue the NBA, according to a statement released by an attorney yesterday.
“The action taken by (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver and the NBA constitutes a violation of my rights and fly in the face of the freedoms that are afforded to all Americans,” Sterling said through attorney Bobby Samini, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“I have decided that I must fight to protect my rights. While my position may not be popular, I believe that my rights to privacy and the preservation of my rights to due process should not be trampled.”
Another attorney representing Sterling, Max Blecher, told NBC News Wednesday that Sterling would sign off on the proposed $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that had been agreed to by Sterling’s wife Shelly on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust, the team’s formal owner of the Clippers.
Donald Sterling filed a $1 billion federal lawsuit against the league on May 30, alleging breach of contract and anti-trust and civil rights violations.
The NBA, the league and the Sterling Family Trust had reached an agreement under which the trust and his wife Shelly Sterling agreed not to sue the league. Under the agreement, the trust also agreed to indemnify the NBA against “lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling.”
Donald Sterling has been under fire over racist comments he made in a tape-recorded conversation with companion V. Stiviano. In the conversation, he chastised her for having her picture taken with black people, including Magic Johnson, and told her not to bring black people to Clippers games.
Sterling contended in a statement to the NBA last month that he was recorded illegally while making emotional remarks during a “lovers’ quarrel.”
