[Donald Sterling, Owner, Los Angeles Clippers:] Am I entitled to one mistake? After 35 years? I mean, I love my league. I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake. I'll never do it again.
[Anderson Cooper, Host, A.c. 360:] The vice president of the NBA players association, Roger Mason, he said players won't accept anyone in Sterling family owning the Clippers, not you, not your wife, not your son-in-law, not your daughter. Do you believe that?
[Sterling:] I really don't know. People that are going to decide my fate, I think, are not the media and not the players union but the
[Nba. Cooper:] The owners?
[Sterling:] Pardon me?
[Cooper:] The owners?
[Sterling:] The owners. If the owners feel I deserve another chance, then they'll give it to me.
[John Berman, Cnn Anchor:] That's Donald Sterling talking exclusively to Anderson Cooper. Anderson said that Sterling broke into tears a few times during this interview. You'll hear Sterling says how sorry he is, what a terrible nightmare this is, how he was set up. He says he's not a racist.
[Michaela Pereira, Cnn Anchor:] But he's not the only one to have a word. His estranged wife, Shelly, is speaking out. She says she doesn't think he's a racist either but that he may be in early stages of dementia. She spoke to Barbara Walters about how she's fighting to keep her half of the team.
[Barbara Walters, Co-host, The View:] Mrs. Sterling, you own 50 percent of the L.A. Clippers. The NBA may insist that the team be sold. What would you do then?
[Shelly Sterling, Wife Of Donald Sterling:] Well, I'm fighting for my 50 percent.
[Walters:] There are reports the NBA wants to oust you completely as a team owner. You will fight that decision?
[Shelly Sterling:] I will fight that decision.
[Walters:] What does the team mean to you?
[Shelly Sterling:] It means a lot. I've been with the team for 33 years, through the good times and the bad times. And it's my passion. I love it.
[Walters:] Do you support the NBA decision to ban your husband?
[Shelly Sterling:] I can't comment on that. I was shocked by what he said, and I guess whatever their decision is, we have to live with it.
[Walters:] So if your husband is banned, that's something that you would accept?
[Shelly Sterling:] Well, we're estranged.
[Pereira:] Let's break it down with HLN legal analyst, Joey Jackson; along with our sports attorney, David Cornwell; and our correspondent in Los Angeles, Ms. Stephanie Elam. David, I want to start with you. Do you think she's really as passionate as she said she is about this team and wants to keep it because of that or is there something else motivating her?
[David Cornwell, Sports Attorney:] I think she's passionate about it now that she faces prospect of losing it. Listen, this discussion about her 50 percent ownership interest, I think it really misses the point. From NBA's perspective, there are 30 owners. If he loses his ownership, everyone that follows him will lose their interest as well. Maybe at some level of compassion for her but at the end of the day she'll go out with Donald Sterling.
[Berman:] Joey, let me ask you this. Shelly Sterling tells Barbara Walters she's been filing for divorce. She's holding up papers. She's serious about it. She says her lawyers told her not to get divorced right now for some reason. What's going on here?
[Joey Jackson, Hln Legal Analyst:] The reality is that she may be passionate about her ownership interest in everything else and she could. There's been discussions also about whether she should be held accountable for his sins, et cetera, et cetera. The reality is that at the end of the day whether they get divorced or don't is a side show. The issue is how is this particular thing what he said going to impair Sterling's ability to own and operate the team? Yes it is. The NBA will remove him. I would also suspect when they remove him, he's done that she'll have no dealings with the team either. A divorce doesn't impact that. Doesn't hold it up. If she decides not to or gets a divorce has anything to do with ultimately what will happen here and that is her disassociation as well as his disassociation from moving forward with the Clippers.
[Pereira:] Stephanie Elam in L.A., I want to bring in the focus on Magic Johnson. He's saying, Magic, that if anyone with a name Sterling owns the team, the Clippers won't play for the team. It also seems like if that's the case, there's no way the league would want to continue with the ownership. He's poisoned the well for his family by doing all of this, hasn't he?
[Stephanie Elam, Cnn Correspondent:] You've got the NBA, which is a business at the end of the day. If there's a Sterling ownership that's causing a problem for fans, for players and more importantly for sponsors, that's an issue for the NBA. That's what they are looking at as a whole right now. I'm not really sure why Magic Johnson is so on Donald Sterling's mind. This is the third recording this time with Anderson Cooper that he's brought Magic up. He doesn't know what he's done for minorities. I don't know if that implies he hasn't done anything. I don't know if that implies he's done a lot himself, Mr. Sterling, I don't know what that has to do with this issue, although I would point out that Magic has done a lot of business dealings that impacted a lot of minorities. That is also very interesting here. Why he's bringing him up again. And he also said he talked twice to Magic and then Anderson asked about those recordings and he said that the only person he talked to was Magic. Is he implying that Magic released the tapes? It's weird and odd how many times he's brought him up.
[Berman:] And combustible, too. One last question, David. There are people suggesting that timing of these two interviews, Donald Sterling's interview with Anderson and Shelly's interview with Barbara Walters is not coincidental. They may be estranged as she claims but maybe not as estranged as they like us to think.
[Cornwell:] I agree. It's highly unlikely that someone who is advising ms. Sterling isn't also talking to someone who is advising Donald Sterling and it may be very well that the two of them are speaking to each other. Just a couple weeks ago we saw them leaving a restaurant together. Listen, you know, this is a lot of I think a lot to do about nothing. At the end of the day, the NBA has the ability to self- govern itself through dispute resolution procedures for arbitration in front of the commissioner. I don't think this is going to spend a lot of time in the courts at all. Donald Sterling will be out and so will she.
[Berman:] David Cornwell, Joey Jackson, Stephanie Elam, great to have you with us talking about this again. Remember, the full interview with Donald Sterling airs on "A.C. 360" tonight at 8:00. This will be controversial.
[Pereira:] Ahead @ THIS HOUR, a new report on the search for flight 370 says two pings heard last month were likely not from the plane. We'll have the latest as the "Ocean Shield" heads back into the Indian Ocean again today.