Shelly Sterling, the estranged wife of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, and her lawyers say that she will fight to keep her half of the franchise if Sterling is forced to sell the team.
Pierce O'Donnell, Sterling’s lawyer, told the Associated Press that she plans on fighting for her 50 percent stake in the team. “As her lawyers we will fight vigorously to defend her property rights,” he said.
O’Donnell did add that Sterling does not have an interest in managing the team and would work with a professional management team and an investor group. The lawyer also told the AP that she is considering filing for divorce from Donald Sterling.
Donald Sterling has been banned from all NBA activities and was fined $2.5 million for racist comments made in a tape that surfaced last month. In it, he is heard telling girlfriend V. Stiviano that he doesn’t want her to take black people to his games. O’Donnell said that his client does not agree with her estranged husband’s views.
Meanwhile, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who has had to keep his team focused on the playoffs during this situation, told the Los Angeles Times that it would be a “hard situation” if Shelly Sterling kept her stake in the team.
“I can guarantee you every person wouldn't be on board with that,” Rivers said Thursday. “Whether I would or not, I'm not going to say, but I just know that would be a very difficult situation for everybody ... because of the relationship. I think it would be a difficult situation because we wouldn't know really who was in charge.”