Moments before NBA commissioner announced that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling had been banned for life from the league, Sterling spoke on the phone with Fox News contributor and veteran sportscaster Jim Gray. Sterling’s message to Gray: the Clippers are not for sale.
“I just spoke with Donald Sterling on the telephone just moments ago,” Gray said on Fox News’ “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson” a few minutes before Silver made his announcement. “He is unaware of what is going to happen to him. He has not been notified. He also said that he really didn’t want to comment on the record. However, the team is not for sale and he will not be selling the team.”
At his press conference Tuesday afternoon, Silver also announced that he would urge the league’s board of governors to force a sale of the team. The league would need to get 3/4 of the team owners to vote to strip Sterling of his ownership.
During his appearance on Fox, Gray said Sterling asked him to read the press coverage of his own fate.
“[H]e is unaware of what Adam Silver, the commissioner, plans to do,” Gray said. “In fact, he asked me, and I read him the TMZ report.”