Shelly Sterling agrees to sell Clippers to Steve Ballmer

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has agreed to buy the Los Angeles Clippers for a record-breaking $2 billion. Now it’s up to others whether the deal goes through.

Shelly Sterling said in a statement issued late Thursday that she’d signed a binding contract for a sale of the Clippers by The Sterling Family Trust to Ballmer in what would be a record deal if approved by the NBA.

Ballmer “will be a terrific owner,” Sterling said, “We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premier NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success.”

Sterling negotiated the sale after her husband, Donald Sterling, made racist remarks that were made public. The remarks included Sterling telling girlfriend V. Stiviano not to bring blacks to Clippers games, specifically mentioning Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.

Shelly Sterling’s statement noted that she made the deal “under her authority as the sole trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which owns the Clippers.” Donald Sterling’s attorneys contend that he is a co-owner and therefore must give his assent for the deal to go through. They also say he won’t be giving it.

“Sterling is not selling the team,” said his attorney, Bobby Samini. “That’s his position. He’s not going to sell.”

Ballmer beat out bids by Guggenheim Partners and a group including former NBA All-Star Grant Hill after presenting an “all-around superior bid,” according to an individual with knowledge of the negotiations. The individual, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said Ballmer made more than an hour-long personal visit to Shelly Sterling’s Malibu home Sunday and laid out his plan.

“He knocked their socks off, they bonded, had a good connection,” the individual said. The amount was also the largest of the offers, and Ballmer was one potential buyer to deal with rather than numerous members of a group.

Ballmer said in a statement that he is honored to have his name submitted to the NBA for approval and thanked the league for working collaboratively with him throughout the process.

“I love basketball. And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win — and win big — in Los Angeles,” Ballmer said. “LA is one of the world’s great cities — a city that embraces inclusiveness, in exactly the same way that the NBA and I embrace inclusiveness.”

So what does this mean for Seattle?

Ballmer was a big part of investor Chris Hansen’s run at buying the Sacramento Kings and moving them to Seattle.

Ballmer and Hansen headed the group that agreed to a deal to buy the Kings from the Maloof family in January 2013 with the intention of moving them to Seattle, where the SuperSonics played until 2008.

But Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson lobbied the NBA for time to put together a bid to keep the team in California, and though the Ballmer-Hansen group later increased its offer, owners voted to deny the bid for relocation and the Kings were sold to Vivek Ranadive.

Brian Robinson, of “Save our Sonics,” says he doesn’t think Ballmer’s Clipper deal has an impact on the chances of bringing professional basketball back to Seattle.

“I really think it has more to do with a great opportunity emerging in LA, something that meets a personal goal of Mr. Ballmer’s and has a lot more to do with the opportunity down there than it does with change of status on things up here.”

Franchise sale prices have soared since the current collective bargaining agreement was ratified in 2011. The Milwaukee Bucks were just sold to New York investment firm executives Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens for about $550 million, an NBA record.

Last year, Ranadive’s group acquired a 65 percent controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings at a total franchise valuation of more than $534 million.

710 ESPN’s Danny O’Neil says he thinks that signs were pointing toward Seattle having to wait for an expansion team, and Ballmer just jumped on the Los Angeles opportunity to get in the game sooner.

“Let’s compare an expansion team which you’re going to pay $1 billion for, and then you’re going to wait and hope that 10 years later is good, between ready-made contender in the second biggest media market and I think that Ballmer, for better or worse, took the easier route to a team.”

Robinson says Seattle is losing an investor, but it shouldn’t derail the prospect of bringing a team here. “It doesn’t actually have too much reflection on the status of the Sonics arena or the desire to bring a team here.”

“We still have an ownership group with Chris Hansen, the Nordstroms and Wally Walker,” says Robinson. “As we’ve seen in other cities, Vivek Ranadiv down in Sacramento being a pretty good example, and then recently in Milwaukee, there are always wealthy people looking to invest in professional sports teams.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.