Lawyer: Clippers sale could miss August deadline

LOS ANGELES — A lawyer for the man offering to buy the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion told a judge Friday that Donald Sterling’s stalling tactics are threatening to doom the sale by pushing it past a contractual deadline.

At a hearing to set parameters for the rest of a probate trial, attorney Adam Streisand implored the judge to make a swift decision when hearings conclude July 28.

He said the final deadline for closing the deal with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was extended by a month, but “the deal ends on Aug. 15.”

Amonth later, the NBA can seize the team and sell it at auction, Streisand said.

Sterling has vowed he’ll never sell the team and is suing to block his wife’s single- handed deal to do so after the NBA banned him for life for making racist statements. He has denied he is a racist from the witness stand.

Streisand said a ruling in favor of Shelly Sterling would set off lengthy appeals that also could stop the sale. Outside court, he said Donald Sterling’s refusal to sell the team is “a suicide mission by a madman.”

In spite of the looming deadlines, Sterling’s attorney, Gary Ruttenberg, who weighed in by phone, asked to further delay proceedings, insisting, “This case has been railroaded on a bullet train.”

Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas disagreed and said the schedule was clear from the beginning. When Ruttenberg asked for time to obtain review of that ruling from an appellate court, the judge said curtly, “That’s denied.”