Reports: Banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has cancer
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has cancer, according to a Thursday report in the New York Post later confirmed by ESPN.
Yahoo Sports NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski wrote Saturday that, in recent years, "The commissioner's office believed Sterling was sick and dying." The Post reported that Sterling, 80, is fighting prostate cancer, and has been in failing health for some time:
“They thought he would die two years ago,” one source said of Sterling [...]
“People have been predicting his imminent demise. I’m sure he has the best . . . drugs money can buy,” said the source, who works closely with pro sports teams. “He can do anything to keep himself alive.”
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA for life and fined him $2.5 million following a league investigation confirming that Sterling did make the racist comments featured on audio recordings published last weekend. Silver also announced that the NBA would immediately begin working to force Sterling to sell the team he purchased for $12.5 million back in 1981.
That process began in earnest on Thursday, with the Advisory/Finance Committee of the NBA's Board of Governors unanimously agreeing to move forward with the termination of Sterling's ownership of the Clippers. Sterling has said that the Clippers are not for sale, and it is expected that he would contest any sale without his consent in court.
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