Donald Sterling Gives Up Los Angeles Clippers! First Move Of The Team Was To Lock Up Doc Rivers! New Era Begins! Will Clippers Become LA’s New Glamour Team?

The saga of Donald Sterling and the LA Clippers seems to have reached a fitting and relieving end as the beleaguered owner has finally thrown in the towel. Getting down to business, the Clippers made sure Doc Rivers got paid!

After the judge upheld the sale of the Clippers to Stephen Ballmer, Sterling still had the chance to appeal to the California Supreme Court. While he still has separate lawsuits against the NBA, the sale will eventually proceed scot-free. From SI.com:

"In a development that makes Donald Sterling reacquiring the Los Angeles Clippers virtually impossible, court records indicate that Sterling failed to petition the California Supreme Court for review by Monday's deadline. The failure means that Sterling has run out of legal options in California to force former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to return the franchise to him.

Under California law, Sterling had 10 business days from Aug. 13 - the date an intermediate appellate court summarily rejected Sterling's two petitions for the $2 billion sale of the Clippers be halted or reversed - to petition the California Supreme Court with the same request. It would have been a long shot request, to be sure, but Sterling was entitled to give it a try."

New owner Steve Ballmer quickly got down to business, and right on top of the agenda is Doc Rivers. The  report from nba.com:

"The Los Angeles Clippers today announced that President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Doc Rivers has agreed to a contract that will keep him with the team through the end of the 2019 season. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Steve Ballmer said: 'This is an important day for this organization," Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said. "I am excited to work with Doc for a long time as we build a championship culture that will deliver results both on and off the court. Not only is Doc one of the best coaches and executives in the game, but he continually embodies the hard core, committed and resilient character and winning culture that the Clippers represent. It was one of my top priorities to ensure that he was firmly in place as the long-term leader of this team."

Is this new era for Los Angeles? The Clippers are now in a much better place than the Lakers in the foreseeable future. Will they become the new darlings of the West Coast?