UPDATE: 12:50 pm:
Clipper team president Andy Roeser spoke with Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times and refuted these claims. She tweeted his response and added a comment:
“Mr. Sterling has never expressed a desire to sell any part of his team. Because it is an asset of remarkable value, it’s true that there have been countless inquiries over the years.
“But the Clippers have never been for sale.” True, Sterling has never been seller, always a buyer. Can’t remember any exceptions.
10:08 am: We all know this, including all but the most delusional members of Clippers nation: Until there is a new owner for that team, there is no real hope of sustained success. A year or two here or there may happen (although they are rare) but sustained success is a pipe dream.
Unless someone like entertainment industry mogul David Geffen bought the team. And he would like to, according to Peter Vecsey in the New York Post.
An impeccable source reveals David Geffen is hot to buy 51 percent of the Clippers. Friday night, the billionaire co-founder of the zaftig film-making company, had dinner in Los Angeles with Donald Sterling to discuss just that.
Anybody who knows Sterling can’t imagine him selling controlling interest of anything he owns, much less turn over the decision-making of his showcase property.
“He’ll take the Clippers to the grave with him,” is the considered opinion of one and all. “They’re his entree to Hollywood’s galaxy of stars. You have no idea how Donald gets off swaying on the sidelines with demi-celebrities 41 nights a year.”
Now this comes from Vecsey, so take it with an entire Morton’s salt plant. Both the Geffen interest and Sterling’s willingness to sell parts of the story.
But you can bet David Stern and 29 other owners would love to see changes at the Clippers. That’s a valuable property in a top market that all too often is an embarrassment to the NBA. Like, when Sterling won’t pay the coach with the guaranteed contract he fired.
Not going to happen, though.