HoopsHype.com Rumors

So one of the things I've noticed in the last year or so is people kind of openly going after your owner. I've never met the man. Do you feel defensive of him? Have you noticed what I'm talking about? Blake Griffin: I definitely have noticed. It's a product of what's happened over the past however many years. It happens. To be honest, I don't what to say. Honestly I can't really sit and defend him, just because I don't know what has gone on. I know from the outside looking in. But for me right now I like the way the team is headed, and I like the things we've done. To me, that's the focus, what's happening from here on out, not what's happened over the past however-many years. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

Whenever the next NBA season starts, it won't cost any more to see the Los Angeles Clippers' reigning Rookie of the Year, Blake Griffin. For the fourth consecutive year, the Clippers declined to raise their season-ticket prices despite a 7.9 percent jump in attendance that can be largely correlated with Griffin's arrival and dominant rookie season. The team declined comment. However, ESPNLosAngeles.com obtained ticket information that confirms the prices of Clippers' season-ticket packages remain unchanged. The most expensive courtside seats ran $48,400 for a full 41-game home season. The cheapest full-season seats in the third level of Staples Center ran $396. The Clippers averaged 17,742 fans in 2010-11, a 7.9 percent increase from the 16,343 they averaged in 2009-10. According to Team Marketing Research's annual fan cost index report for the 2009-10 season, the Clippers' average ticket cost $51.47, well above the league average of $47.66 but well below the Los Angeles Lakers' $95.25 average ticket, highest in the NBA. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

After being asked about fining Cavs owner Dan Gilbert for his actions after LeBron left Cleveland, Stern was asked about not fining Clippers owner Donald Sterling for heckling his own players: David Stern: “Oh, he’s just a fan at that point, and he promised he wouldn’t do it again.” Sports Radio Interviews

Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Dan Gilbert, David Stern, Donald Sterling 

But there was a conversation with Sterling about it, right? David Stern: “Yes, there’s always a conversation with everybody. You know, the best way to describe it is to say that how you deal with something that has passed you, is that you say ‘I assume you didn’t do it, if you did it it was an accident, that you didn’t mean to do it, and if you did do it, you’re not going to do it again. Right?’ Right, okay. Let’s move on.” Sports Radio Interviews

Los Angeles Clippers, David Stern, Donald Sterling 

Buss reportedly stands to lose 10 percent of his team's Time Warner television deal that sources have indicated is potentially worth $5 billion over 25 years, meaning as much as $500 million in losses. It's not the sort of tone you'd think Stern wants to set going into this most pivotal of summers, with a likely lockout on the horizon and a push for improved revenue sharing that would be easier to execute with Buss' support and access to his coffer. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, meanwhile, doesn't garner the same (or any) respect but is always ready and willing to sue when someone goes for his wallet. SI.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Jerry Buss, Donald Sterling, Anaheim 

Thirteen months and counting. That's how long it has been since Mike Dunleavy was fired as the Clippers' general manager and, not so coincidentally, that was the last time he was paid by the team. His long and winding case finally will be heard in arbitration, starting Monday before Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services in Santa Monica. Proceedings are expected to last several days with additional briefs filed afterward, and the judge could issue a decision by June. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Mike Dunleavy, Donald Sterling 

There is $6.75 million in unpaid salary remaining on Dunleavy's contract. He had been the team's general manager and coach and resigned as coach Feb. 4, 2010. The team fired him as general manager March 8, issuing the news when the Clippers were in the middle of a game at Orlando. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Mike Dunleavy, Donald Sterling 

A Los Angeles County jury Wednesday declined to award damages to NBA great Elgin Baylor, rejecting his lawsuit against the Clippers for unlawful termination based on age discrimination. By a 12-0 vote, the seven-man, five-woman jury informed Judge Kenneth R. Freeman that neither the team nor owner Donald T. Sterling or president Andy Roeser presided over a hostile workplace in which alleged harassment occurred. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Lisa Dillman: Follow @latimespugmire for additional coverage and reaction from the courthouse after Elgin Baylor's lawsuit was rejected, 12-0. Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Lisa Dillman: Just got word from source --OK, Lance Pugmire:-) -- that the verdict in the Baylor case is in. LP making his way to court. #puffofsmoke Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Elgin Baylor's wrongful termination and age-discrimination civil lawsuit against the Clippers is expected to arrive in the hands of jurors Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. In closing statements Monday, the team's attorney blasted Baylor's claim and urged the panel to deprive him of any financial payoff. Ridiculing Baylor's complaints against team executives who asked him about his birthday and how he was feeling in the years before the NBA great's split with the team as executive vice president, Clippers attorney Robert Platt told jurors, "You'd have to have police at every workplace saying you can't sing, 'Happy Birthday.' " The Bellingham Herald

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Clippers forward Blake Griffin is concerned about the Donald Sterling's string of public embarrassments, according to CBSSports.com ... . Under current NBA rules, players on rookie contracts have little power to influence where they play. And from the standpoint of talent and assets, the Clippers are on excellent footing going forward. CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

Griffin will not be tied to the Clippers forever, and there are indications he will consider not only the Clippers' ability to compete for a championship, but also the kind of owner he wants to play for when he becomes eligible (under current rules, anyway) for an extension on July 1, 2012. Would alienating the most promising player in franchise history be grounds for Sterling to finally be held accountable? CBSSports.com

Los Angeles Clippers, Blake Griffin, Donald Sterling 

Stern has long preached that coaches are too expensive, scouts too plentiful and perhaps no one has heeded the commissioner’s words like the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner. He has a history of hiring them cheap, and refusing to honor contracts. The NBA has a history of letting it go without protests. Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Coaching, David Stern, Donald Sterling 

Yes, Stern’s silence and inaction on Sterling’s despicable behavior has to be considered as some level of approval. Now, Kim Hughes tells the story to the Racine (Wis.) Journal-Times about how Sterling didn’t pay for his prostate cancer surgery as a Clippers assistant coach several years ago. Clippers players contributed much of the $70,000 needed to take care of the costs that weren’t covered by Hughes’ medical insurance. And once Sterling fires those coaches and scouts, he often stops paying the balance of their contracts. He dares them to sue. Some can, and do. Some can’t afford the legal fight and end up settling for pennies on the dollar. Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Coaching, Kim Hughes, Donald Sterling 

This happened with scouts Scott Wissel and Jerry Holloway a year ago. They made less than six figures a year, and the Clippers simply stopped paying them. Essentially, Sterling was telling them, “The season’s over, and so what if your deal runs October to October. It’s April, get lost and we aren’t paying you.” Eventually, Holloway won a settlement, and Wissel had to fight more than a year to get part of his money. Where was the league office? Where was Stern’s indignity? Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Coaching, Donald Sterling 

Big and small markets. Winning and losing franchises. Great and lousy general managers and coaches. Old and new owners. They all agree: Don’t push Stern too hard because there will be a price to pay. Better off bowing, kissing the ring and shuffling past him. Anything goes in Stern’s NBA, except challenging the emperor. The league office never cares about criticism about most of its biggest stars, owners and coaches. In some cases, it’ll openly encourage it. Want to invite a call to your boss? That’s easy. Pull back the curtain on the commissioner. Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Clippers, Coaching, Donald Sterling 

Clippers owner Donald Sterling testified Tuesday about his past deep loyalty and trust for former executive Elgin Baylor despite an admission by the owner that he wasn't completely clear about the NBA legend he appointed vice president of player personnel in 1986. "You didn't know about his basketball career?" Baylor attorney Carl Douglas asked Sterling in his first day on the stand as Baylor's wrongful termination civil lawsuit against the team continued at a Los Angeles courthouse. "His accomplishments? The Hall of Fame?" "No," Sterling answered. "... I didn't know that. I hired him for $3,000 a month. I didn't really know what his role was.... He was working in a mail-order company back then." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Douglas' questions revealed the significant distance Sterling kept from the team he moved from San Diego in 1984. The organization has appeared in four postseason series since. When asked about a Baylor predecessor, Sterling said the name Carl Scheer "sounds familiar." He added, "I don't profess to know anything about basketball. I'm a professional lawyer." As for what he recalls about Baylor taking over basketball matters, the owner said, "[Baylor] … ultimately made $500,000 a year. Somewhere in between, he assumed that role." Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor 

Sterling testified he paid Baylor whatever annual salary he would ask for and said he gave Baylor wide latitude in the team's handling, including what to pay coaches and whom to sign and draft. "Elgin Baylor wouldn't tell me the players he was drafting. He was afraid I'd tell another owner," Sterling testified. Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Clippers, Law, Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor