Bloomberg: Grant Hill Group Makes $1.2 Bln Bid For Los Angeles Clippers

(RTTNews) - A group including former NBA All-Star Grant Hill, Ares Management, L.P. (ARES) Chairman Antony Ressler and Oaktree Capital Group LLC's (OAK) co-founder Bruce Karsh has made a $1.2 billion bid for the Los Angeles Clippers, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the process.

Los Angeles Clippers is an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Basketball Association or NBA.

Bloomberg also reported that Steve Ballmer, the former chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), has also made a strong bid for Los Angeles Clippers, which finished with the third-best record in the league this season.

Another bidder for Clippers is said to be a group that includes music executive David Geffen, Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison, Oprah Winfrey, and executives from Guggenheim Partners, owners of baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers.

Bidders reportedly faced a deadline on Wednesday to submit their bids for the NBA franchise. Shelly Sterling, the wife of Clippers managing partner Donald Sterling, is said to be presiding over the sale of the club after the NBA banned her husband for life and fined him $2.5 million in April for making racist comments.

Shelly is seeking to sell the team by June 3, when the NBA league's owners will convene and probably vote on Commissioner Adam Silver's recommendation that the NBA assume control of the franchise and sell it. Twenty-three of the thirty team owners in the league must approve the forced sale.