‘No final decision’ from Donald Sterling on state Supreme Court appeal

Donald Sterling hasn’t ruled out appealing the sale of the Clippers to the state Supreme Court.

“No final decision has been made,” Maxwell Blecher, one of Sterling’s attorneys, said in an email Friday.

Attorneys familiar with the case see long odds for such a maneuver succeeding, with one putting the odds at 1 in 2 billion.

After the franchise’s $2-billion sale to Steve Ballmer closed Tuesday, the state’s 2nd Court of Appeal denied Sterling’s petition Wednesday to stop the transaction and overturn a lower court’s ruling that allowed it to proceed.

“An immediate stay … and an order halting or unwinding the sale is necessary,” the petition said, “to allow meaningful review of the novel and erroneous legal determinations made here and to restore public faith in our justice system.”

The appellate court found there was nothing to stay since the sale already closed. The latest in a series of legal setbacks seemed to finally quash Sterling’s hopes of retaining the franchise he had owned for 33 years.

Sterling appeared to concede the sale in a statement released by two of his attorneys following the appellate court’s rejection, saying they were confident their client would be “completely vindicated” in a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NBA.

Ballmer is scheduled to appear at Staples Center at 12:30 p.m. Monday as part of a Clippers “fan festival.”

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