MICHAEL MCCANN:
Well, as Ken noted, it's a very difficult situation for the NBA to literally for him to sell the team, that the league would have to argue that, under the constitution, which talks about, from when we know — it's a confidential document — from what we know about it, that it talks about forcing an owner to leave when he is in financial trouble, not able to pay bills.
That's not at stake here. Now, you could maybe take a very expansive view of the language and say, well, some sponsors are cutting deals with the Clippers. That is now starting to threat economically the Clippers and the NBA indirectly. But, as Ken noted, if the NBA goes down this path, it's unprecedented, it's uncharted, and the language of the key legal documents doesn't appear to authorize it.
And, also, this is the real issue. Will he sue? Will he file a defamation lawsuit? Will he file a breach of contract? Will he file an antitrust lawsuit saying the NBA and other teams have joined hands to force me to sell my team at below-market value, I lost hundreds of millions of dollars, which, under antitrust laws, would be troubled?
It's a situation that could defeat the over — if the goal is to remove Donald Sterling, forcing him out may end up having the opposite effect.
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