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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Donald Sterling has owned the Clippers for 33 years. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At long last the Donald Sterling saga comes to a close.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After threatening to file a $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA\u00A0last week, Sterling has agreed to forego legal action against the league and has consented to\u00A0the sale of the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, according to\u00A0Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The likelihood of Sterling following through on the threat of a lawsuit took a hit last Friday, when Sterling's wife, Shelly -- as part of the formal sale agreement with Ballmer -- agreed to \"indemnify the NBA against lawsuits from others, including from Donald Sterling,\" according to an official\u00A0release. That Sterling himself is cooperating with that claim, however, is a significant development that\u00A0will facilitate his impending removal from the NBA. According to\u00A0Sterling's attorney, Max Blecher, the decision to drop the lawsuit against the NBA was part of a larger deal in which the NBA also agreed not to sue Sterling in return, per Shelburne.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The charges of Sterling's planned lawsuit's charges\u00A0would have included\u00A0an invasion of Sterling\u2019s constitutional rights, violation of anti-trust laws and breach of fiduciary duty associated with the NBA\u2019s lifetime ban and termination charges.\u00A0Blecher also\u00A0clarified\u00A0that the prospective suit had nothing to do with the sale of the Clippers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Under the agreement announced last Friday,\u00A0Ballmer will purchase the Clippers from the Sterlings for $2 billion, pending a vote from the NBA's Board of Governors. The NBA then terminated its charge to remove Donald and Shelly Sterling from ownership and canceled its June 3 meeting to oust the Sterlings from ownership.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Earlier that day, TMZ.com reported Donald\u00A0Sterling had\u00A0recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Sterling was diagnosed by doctors in early May, which led him to be declared\u00A0\u201Cmentally incapacitated\u201D\u00A0\u2013\u00A0a determination that removed him from power over the Sterling family trust and, by extension, the Clippers. That left Shelly Sterling as\u00A0the sole functional trustee, a status which fully empowered her to carry out the sale of the team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ballmer, 58, served as CEO of Microsoft from 2000 until Feb. 2014. He had a preexisting relationship with the NBA after putting in a bid in 2013 to purchase the Sacramento Kings, which smoothed over the vetting process involved in this transaction. Although Ballmer intended to move the Kings to Seattle and rebrand them as the Supersonics,\u00A0he\u00A0told the\u00A0&lt;em&gt;Wall Street Journal&lt;/em&gt;\u00A0in May\u00A0that he would not attempt to relocate the Clippers in the event that he purchased the team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI love basketball and I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win \u2013 and win big \u2013 in Los Angeles,\u201D Ballmer said. \u201CL.A. is one of the world\u2019s great cities \u2013 a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness. \u00A0I am confident that the Clippers will in the coming years become an even bigger part of the community.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ballmer\u2019s net worth has been pegged at\u00A0more than $20 billion by\u00A0&lt;em&gt;Forbes&lt;/em&gt;, which would make him the richest owner in American professional sports. The $2 billion sale price would set a record for an NBA team, obliterating\u00A0the $550 million sale price for the Milwaukee Bucks. Only Major League Baseball\u2019s Los Angeles Dodgers, which sold recently for $2.1 billion, have been sold for a higher price.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers,\u201D Ballmer said in a statement. \u201CI thank Shelly Sterling for her willingness to entrust the Clippers franchise to me, and I am grateful to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his colleagues for working collaboratively with me throughout this process.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;SI.com's Ben Golliver contributed to this report.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;h2 &gt;&lt;strong&gt;More SI.com NBA playoff coverage&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2014 NBA Finals\u00A0schedule, results\u00A0|\u00A0Staff predictions: Spurs or Heat?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;FINALS PREVIEW:\u00A0Legacies at stake in Heat vs. Spurs II |\u00A0What to watch&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VIDEO:\u00A0Relive epic 2013 Finals between\u00A0Heat-Spurs\u00A0|\u00A0No re-run in 2014&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FINALS X-FACTORS:&lt;/strong&gt;\u00A0&lt;strong&gt;Parker\u2019s injured ankle, Battier, Ginobili\u00A0and more&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;JENKINS:\u00A0\u00A0Adam Silver his own man\u00A0|\u00A0Anatomy of a Miracle: Allen\u2019s three&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SI ROUNDTABLE:\u00A0How can LeBron still improve?\u00A0|\u00A0Knicks or Lakers job?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;MORE:\u00A0Oddsmaker favors \u2026\u00A0|\u00A0Duncan on rematch: \u2018We\u2019ll do it this time\u2019&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;PHOTOS:&lt;/strong&gt;\u00A0&lt;strong&gt;Greatest upsets&lt;/strong&gt;\u00A0|\u00A0&lt;strong&gt;NBA playoffs fashion&lt;/strong&gt;\u00A0|\u00A0&lt;strong&gt;LeBron\u2019s best playoff games&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/2014/06/04/donald-sterling-sell-clippers-drop-lawsuit-nba>