Donald Sterling's attorneys negotiating dismissal of federal lawsuit against NBA

Attorneys for deposed Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the NBA are negotiating the possible dismissal of his federal antitrust lawsuit against the league, Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Sterling sued the NBA after his wife, Shelly, agreed to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer back in May. The league then countersued, on the grounds that Sterling's publicized racist sentiments had caused the league "devastating and incalculable harm."

Earlier this week, Sterling withdrew a separate, fraud-related lawsuit against the league and his wife concerning their handling of the sale. At the time, one of his lawyers claimed: "We believe that we can more efficiently address all the issues in our pending federal action."

According to Fenno, the latest development grew out of a meeting last week between Maxwell Blecher, representing Sterling, and Jason Russell, one of the NBA’s attorneys.

Blecher reportedly filed a declaration in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, in which he wrote: "During that meeting, Mr. Russell and I began negotiating a possible dismissal of this action." Neither he nor Russell offered additional comment.

A scheduling conference for the lawsuit, which was initially slated for Nov. 6, was reportedly bumped back to Dec. 4 by a federal judge, so the sides can continue the dismissal negotiations. 

h/t to PBT