NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Who Will Buy The Clippers?
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
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“I can’t come in here talking about Mayweather only going to get 3% or 4%,” Mayweather, a huge Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers fan, said at the MGM Grand. “I got to get a solid percentage. But do we want to buy the Clippers? Yes we do. We’re very, very interested in buying the Clippers.”
Via Bob Velin of USA Today Sports
David Geffen is again interested in purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers following the NBA’s decision to attempt to force Donald Sterling to sell the franchise.
Geffen offered $600 million for the Clippers four years ago, but hasn’t been in contact with the NBA for many months.
Magic Johnson and Guggenheim Partners, along with Larry Ellison are also expected to bid.
In order for the process of a sale to begin, the NBA has to take over the Clippers, which they cannot do until an official outing of Sterling is passed by a vote at a Board of Governors meeting. From there he is expected to challenge and potentially take the ruling to court, but no matter how hard he fights the only outcome the league is going to accept is an eventual sale. Sterling went on record before his lifetime ban was handed out saying that he was not interested in selling the team. He would probably settle giving controlling ownership to a member of his family, but the NBA Players Association has already stated that is not a valid option. They want new ownership and as you can see above potential suitors are lining up.
It’s important to note that the NBA will not just go with the highest bidder, although price is going to be a major factor. After this incident with Sterling, they’re going to want to sell to a group with a clean background and strong business history who fits the proper image for a NBA owner. Any new owner has to be voted on and approved by the Board of Governors. That could end up being problematic for a group featuring Mayweather, who not only served a prison sentence recently for domestic violence, but is a notorious, high-dollar gambler.
Obviously, Magic and the Guggenheim Partners would be ideal for the league. They’d be embraced with open arms.
Geffen’s background is in the entertainment industry, where he served in a variety of roles including producer and a film studio executive.
Ellison is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Orporation, a software company. He’s tried on multiple other occasions to buy a NBA franchise, including the Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and most recently the Golden State Warriors. His desire to move them to San Jose has really worked against him.
The Clippers could sell for close to $1 billion.
In Related: League supports Silver
Or Charlotte could certainly opt for trades to fill its nagging holes at both small forward and backup point guard if it fears the usual chilly summer chasing players on the open market. The rumbles have already begun that a player Clifford is said to regard with real fondness after working with him in Orlando as an assistant — vet floor leader Jameer Nelson — as well as current Magic swingman Arron Afflalo will be among the Bobcats’ trade targets.
Nelson, 32, is entering the final season of his contract at $8 million, but only $2 million of that is guaranteed if Nelson is waived by July 15. Afflalo, 28, is due to earn $7.5 million next season and has a player option for 2015-16, also valued at $7.5 million.
The Bobcats only have $41 million guaranteed for next season, so they are going to be in a position where they can add some significant pieces and Afflalo and Nelson are two very obtainable pieces. The Magic are said to be open to trading both of them, and could be intrigued by the draft picks the Bobcats have to offer and potentially Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. They were rumored to be shopping Kidd-Gilchrist prior to the trade deadline, but an injury hurt his value.
Tony Parker is listed as day-to-day in advance of Game 5 after being diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain of his left ankle, suffered in the first half of the Spurs’ 93-89 victory at Dallas on Monday.
“We’ll see how he is (Wednesday),” Popovich said.
Parker was noticeably effected by the injury on the court and was limping afterwards. While the Spurs are going to be completely focused on Game 5, for a team that has championship aspirations, they have to be really concerned about the long-term implications here as well. Without Parker at full strength, their chances of surviving the West and getting back to the Finals are significantly lower. Parker is averaging 15.5 points and 4.5 assists this postseason, down from 16.7 points and 5.7 assists in the regular season.
