Sterling's Wife Meets With Clippers' Suitors

Rochelle Sterling continued to entertain offers from potential buyers of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday as the N.B.A. awaited a response from her husband, Donald, on charges that he had engaged in conduct that damaged the league and its partners.

'We're working furiously to secure a buyer, and we're working cooperatively with the N.B.A. on the sale process,' Pierce O'Donnell, Rochelle Sterling's lawyer, said in a telephone interview.

Rochelle Sterling, who owns the team along with her husband through a family trust, had a weekend meeting in Los Angeles with the former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, according to a person familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity because he had not been authorized to speak publicly about them.

O'Donnell declined to comment on potential buyers.

Ballmer joined a growing list of people who have expressed an interest in buying the Clippers, who are on the market after Rochelle Sterling reached an agreement with her husband last week to negotiate a sale of the team. While it remains unclear if the N.B.A. will authorize Rochelle Sterling to control a sale, O'Donnell said she had been in regular contact with league officials, including Jason Cahilly, the league's chief financial officer, who spent the weekend in Los Angeles.

An N.B.A. spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Donald Sterling had until the end of Tuesday to respond to the league's formal charges. Sterling, 80, was barred from the N.B.A. for life last month for making racist remarks. A special hearing has been scheduled for next Tuesday, June 3, when a vote of three-fourths of the league's owners would be required to force him to sell the team.

The team could sell for $1 billion or more, according to analysts, and Rochelle Sterling has met with several prospective buyers, including Patrick Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and businessman, and Tony Ressler, a co-founder of a private equity firm.

A sale of the team could pre-empt a drawn-out legal battle, which the league would like to avoid.

Donald Sterling's lawyer, Maxwell M. Blecher, has not responded to messages seeking comment.