No divorce for Sterlings after Clippers mess—report

In this May 19, 2012 file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, left, and his wife Shelly watch the second half in Game 3 of an NBA basketball playoffs Western Conference semifinal against the San Antonio Spurs in Los Angeles. Donald Sterling has agreed to surrender his stake of the Clippers to his wife, and she is moving forward with selling the team. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press Friday. May 23, 2014, that the couple made the agreement after weeks of discussion. The individual wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the agreement. AP

Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and his wife have decided not to divorce after controversy that led to a forced sale of the NBA club, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Sterling will remain with his wife of 60 years, Shelly, according to the newspaper, which cited a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court and a confirming e-mail to the Times by Bobby Samini, Donald Sterling’s lawyer.

“Notwithstanding all the difficult events of the last two years, the Sterlings have resolved their differences,” Samini wrote.

Shelly Sterling’s attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, also confirmed the decision to the newspaper.

Donald Sterling cited “irreconcilable differences” in a divorce filing last August, three weeks before the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary. He said the two had separated in August of 2012.

Shelly Sterling remains a defendant in her husband’s federal lawsuit over the forced $2 billion sale of the Clippers in 2014 after he was banned from the NBA for remarks about not wanting African-Americans to attend his games.

Donald Sterling accused Shelly of conspiring with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league to sell the Clippers against his wishes.

Shelly Sterling removed her husband as a member of the trust that owned the Clippers.

During a 2014 hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court that led to confirmation of his removal, Donald Sterling went so far as to call his wife a “pig.”

The team was sold to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer in 2014.

Samini said last year that Donald Sterling had not received the proceeds from the sale of a team he owned for 33 years, with half the sale money in an NBA-controlled escrow account pending the federal lawsuit resolution while the remainder went to Shelly Sterling.