The Donald Sterling and Los Angeles Clippers saga may finally be coming to an end.  Reports previously surfaced that Sterling gave permission to his wife Shelly to sell the team.  Adam Silver and the Board of Governors were reportedly willing to hold off on the oust of Sterling if the team was successfully sold and it appears they’re on their way to doing so.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly won a frantic bidding war that included  Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to the L.A Times, the Geffen group bid $1.6 billion and Ressler bid $1.2 billion.  Ballmer won out with a whopping $2 billion bid.  The offer set a new record for the NBA which was previously held by the Milwaukee Bucks which went for $550 million earlier this month.  Though the Guggenheim Group lost out on this bid, the $2.1 billion price they paid for the Dodgers is the highest for any sports team in North America.

The deal is still tentative and must be approved by Donald who’s gone back and forth on his stance and recently put out a statement through his lawyer that “he’s not interested in selling.  He’s going to fight to the bloody end”.  The deal must also be approved by the other 29 NBA owners but is expected to clear that hurdle as long as Ballmer keeps his pledge to keep the team in LA and not move it to Seattle, the city where he lives and where fans are dying to get a team back.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ballmer maintained that he would keep the team in Los Angeles  because anywhere else would be “value destructive”.

Ballmer worked at Microsoft for 34 years, including the last 14 as chief executive.  He has an estimated net worth of $20 billion.

– Shaina Auxilly (@Shay_Marie)