The LA Clippers and their ownership status with Donald Sterling is in a holding pattern and now names like Oprah Winfrey, Magic Johnson, David Geffen, P Diddy, Floyd Mayweather and Larry Ellison have expressed interest in buying the team if it comes up for sale and that will depend on whether the NBA can force Sterling and his family out and to sell the franchise.
Rumors started floating around immediately after the Sterling lifetime ban was announced by Adam Silver and now all these names could be in the mix to purchase the team, although nothing is official yet. According to ESPN.com, Sterling likely will challenge having to sell the team, but if he does, those names above have the money and the connections to get a group together and that could lead to a purchase of the franchise.
The NBA would be thrilled to have Johnson or Winfrey in an ownership position, as that would take a franchise owned by a racist and transfer it to a woman or an African American and many are asking for the NBA to be more diverse in their executives and owners. Winfrey has the money to make the team hers and the report from ESPN says that she would likely team with David Geffen and Larry Ellison to get a group together to make a big. Johnson is part of a group that owns the Dodgers and he likely would jump at the chance to own an NBA franchise, especially one in LA.
Silver made the announcement on Tuesday and banned Sterling for life and this came as the NBA players were planning a boycott had their voices not been heard by the commissioner. LeBron James and nearly everyone else expressed joy at the decision, as Sterling had been given mostly a free pass by David Stern in past years. Stern even pushed Chris Paul to the Clippers when the Lakers deal should have gone through and that has put a spotlight on Sterling as well.
The NBA took fast and decisive action on Sterling and while there are still many questions to be answered, it looks like the owners will force him out. Sterling is the longest tenured owner and he bought the Clippers for about $12 million and now they could be worth up to a billion by some estimates. The team should get sold and now many names have thrown their hats into the ring and this could be a long process. The NBA could take control, but either way, with the way Sterling operates, this is getting into a court somewhere.