NBA, former Clippers owner Donald Sterling reach legal settlement

Former Clippersowner Donald Sterling's legal fight with the NBA over the $2 billion sale of the team has ended as both sides have settled the dispute.

The Los Angeles Times, citing Sterling attorney Bobby Samini, first reported the agreement Friday.

"Donald is pleased with the outcome and is looking forward to focusing on future endeavors," Samini wrote in an email to the Times.

The NBA says it's pleased that Sterling has dropped the suit.

Samini filed a request Friday to have the federal appeals case dismissed. Details of the settlement were not available.

The NBA banned Sterling for life in 2014 in response to racist comments the league saidhe made in a recorded conversation.

Sterling filed the antitrust lawsuit in 2014, alleging that the NBA and others conspired to remove him as owner of the Clippers.

Those named in Sterling's lawsuit included the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver, former commissioner David Stern, Sterling's wife, and two doctors who found the former owner to be mentally incapable of serving on the family trust that controlled the team.

A federal judge dismissed Sterling's lawsuit in March.

Sterling appealed that ruling but missed a key filing deadline last month.

Pierce O'Donnell, the lawyer for Sterling's wife, Shelly, called Friday's settlement a capitulation.

"Finally, in the third season of Steve Ballmer's ownership of the Clippers, the last piece of litigation is mercifully over. Donald's quixotic legal challenge to the record-shattering $2 billion sale was doomed from the very outset," O'Donnell said in the statement. "Now all of us fans -- Shelly Sterling being the No. 1 fan -- can focus on cheering the Clippers to their first NBA championship."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.