Donald Sterling surrendered control of the Los Angeles Clippers to his wife Shelly Sterling who is expected to move forward with the sale of the team. NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the league however haven’t approved that move and might continue to try and gain control of the team and then sell it. Either way the team will be sold at some point so who are the big spenders with the opportunity to buy? Check it out.
via ProBasketballTalk:
• Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim group. Also known as the poetic justice bid. This is a group the league would love to see own the team — they already own the Dodgers (having won a sealed bid process much like the league might use), they have one of the most iconic personalities in Los Angeles as the front man, they have the money via the other guys in the group, and it would be a nice little kick in the behind for Donald Sterling as he is pushed out the door. If the Sterlings sell the team themselves before the league takes it from them, the odds of this group winning go down fast.
• Oprah Winfrey, David Geffen and Larry Ellison. That trio is pretty much the definition of deep pockets. Any one of them could buy a team (Lord knows Ellison has tried) and together they have money and star power. This has to be the early favorite in the process. You can insert your own “you get a contract and you get a contract” joke right here.
• Grant Hill and his investment group. Grant Hill was always the guy in the locker room who was reading the Wall Street Journal instead of tweeting, the guy who would put Bloomberg TV on instead of ESPN on a locker room television. He’s got a mind for business. And he has assembled a group that may buy the Clippers, reports Marc Stein at ESPN.
•Rick Caruso. A developer whose name is not known all that well outside Los Angeles, but in L.A. he’s the guy that owns the Grove. He was in the running to buy the Dodgers but lost out to the Magic/Guggenheim group.
• Patrick Soon-Shiong. Another name not known outside the City of Angels, but the medical researcher and business man is the richest man in Los Angeles, worth $9.8 billion. He already owners four percent of Lakers, so he has been through the league’s ownership vetting process.
• Yao Ming. According to Bill Simmons of Grantland (and confirmed by ESPN’s Marc Stein), Yao is getting together a group of Chinese investors to make a bid. Seems a long shot but you never know.
There are a lot of smaller names that could try to attach as a minority owner with a group, such as Floyd Mayweather Jr. (he would never pass the league’s screening process for owners), Rick Ross, Frankie Muniz and others. They will get pub if attached to a deal, but like Grant Hill and Magic Johnson they are not the real money.
