Sterling recently banned for life from NBA after making racist remarks.
According to ESPN sources, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been battling prostate cancer for an “extended period of time”.
The New York Post was first to report the news, and they claim that the 80-year-old has been suffering for some time with the Clippers players revealing that they were unaware of the news.
Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5m by commissioner Adam Silver earlier this week, after an audio recording was leaked containing racist remarks from the franchise owner.
Silver has also urged the other 29 owners to force a sale of the Clippers, which can they do provided that they can obtain the approval of three-fourths of the collective.
The league’s advisory and finance committee have also held their first meeting regarding the situation on Thursday, and concluded that it would be in the best interests of all concerned if they can move quickly to terminating Sterling’s ownership.
Since the announcement was made by Silver, a number of groups have come forward expressing their interest in acquiring the franchise, with the likes of Magic Johnson, Floyd Mayweather and Oprah Winfrey all said to be interested.
Nevertheless, there was sympathy from the players on Thursday night after the Golden State Warriors game, as although they were not sure if the reports were true, they undoubtedly felt for Sterling if so.
“If that is true, my thoughts and prayers are with him,” Blake Griffin said. “Nobody deserves to go through something like that.”
Point guard Chris Paul echoed his sentiment by calling it “truly unfortunate” while coach Doc Rivers didn’t know about it and also hoped it wasn’t true.
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