Gee, I didn’t see this coming…
According to a report via Michael McCann of Sports Illustrated, disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling intends to sue the NBA.
SI.com has learned that Donald Sterling has hired prominent antitrust litigator Maxwell Blecher, who has written a letter to NBA executive vice president and general counsel Rick Buchanan threatening to sue the NBA. The letter, sources tells SI.com, claims that Sterling has done nothing wrong and that “no punishment is warranted” for Sterling. Blecher also tells Buchanan that Sterling will not pay the $2.5 million fine, which is already past due. Blecher ends the letter by saying this controversy “will be adjudicated.”
Blecher’s letter makes clear what many have anticipated: Donald Sterling will not go down without a fight and that he is taking active steps towards litigation. A letter of this type is considered a precursor to the filing of a lawsuit. Blecher’s letter offers no ambiguity about Sterling’s intentions.
“We reject your demand for payment,” the letter tells Buchanan, who on May 14 informed Sterling by letter that he must pay the $2.5 million fine.
Sterling is probably the most litigious man alive, so it was a matter of when and not if he was going to fight back through the court system.