The lawyer for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has told numerous media outlets that Sterling will sue the NBA for damages from being banned for life and having his ownership terminated. The lawsuit will seek over $1 billion in damages, as first reported by NBC News. BuzzFeed, Yahoo, and ESPN confirmed the report.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Sterling is also considering legal action to stop the sale of the team. Sterling's wife, Shelly, agreed to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion on Thursday night. Sterling is opposed to his wife's efforts to sell the team, his lawyer telling the Associated Press that "[Donald] Sterling is not selling the team."
Sterling's attorney provided this statement to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne:
On Friday, the NBA announced that it settled its dispute with Shelly Sterling over the team's ownership and that the Clippers will be sold to Ballmer. The league also said in a statement that the Sterling trust agreed "not to sue the NBA and to indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling."
Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined after an audio recording surfaced in which he made racist remarks.