Clippers co-Owner Rochelle Sterling and her lawyer, Pierce O’Donnell, yesterday "vowed to fight" the NBA if it tried to force her out, because in "their minds, she is collateral damage," according to Scott Cacciola of the N.Y. TIMES. O'Donnell: "We're ready to go to war if we have to." Rochelle said of the league placing Clippers President Andy Roeser on indefinite leave, "I O.K.’d it when the league told me they had found somebody else." She added, "I called him and said, 'I have to know a few things.' And he said, 'I’ll have my attorney call your attorney.'” She added of the league potentially taking the team from her, "Is it something sexist? Is it the man’s club? The owners are afraid of their own issues. Because I’m sure if anybody goes into all their records, they have skeletons in their closets. They would probably like to defend Donald, because he’s one of the oldest owners. But I think they’re all afraid because of their players." O'Donnell, asked if they would depose other owners should they sue the league, said, "I’d certainly be entitled to discovery. Any fair administrative process would allow us to get discovery. And I want to know a lot of different things about the records of the NBA and what information they have about the conduct or misconduct of other owners that was not acted upon." Sterling added, "People have nothing against me. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I suffer and lose my team? I would like it to be left as a legacy to my family, and I’ve helped build it. I just can’t see me not owning it, or a piece of it" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/13).
HINTING AT A FIGHT: On NBC's "Today," both Sterling and O’Donnell sounded similar themes in speaking to Savannah Guthrie. O’Donnell: “The problem we have here is she’s been sucked into the maelstrom and people say, ‘Off with her head.’ She had nothing to do with this. Is this because she’s a woman?” Rochelle Sterling, on whether the NBA is being sexist by trying to push her out: “I really think so. Would an owner’s wife say the same thing and would the owner be asked to leave the NBA? Or would they just say, ‘Well, she’s only the wife.’” Asked if she believes the NBA is right for forcing her husband to sell: “I think I agree with what their decision is. I don’t agree with what their decision is for me. I wholly feel that I’ve done nothing wrong.” Asked how far she will go fighting the NBA: “As far as I can go” (“Today,” NBC, 5/13).
A ‘SPUR’ IN THE LEAGUE’S ‘RIBS’? CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto wrote under the header, "Shelly Sterling May Soon Make Life Difficult For Adam Silver." She has "revealed herself as someone more than ready to throw her failing husband over the side to keep her possession of the family yacht, and quite possibly as the real spur in the league’s exposed ribs" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 5/12).
