FORTUNE — The latest development in the Donald Sterling-LA Clippers saga is perhaps the most rote, but among the most important: Bank of America (BAC) as been retained by the outlawed owner to sell the team.
The owners are facing a June 3 deadline to reach a sale agreement, or risk the team being taken from them by the National Basketball Association, the report says. Two anonymous sources told Bloomberg News that the bank would facilitate the sale, which is expected to happen quickly. Bank of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bloomberg names several possible new ownership groups. Notably, two of them contain at an African-American partner. This could be an important point as the sale moves forward, not only because of the racially insensitive comments that led to Sterling’s ouster, but also because the NBA currently only has one black primary owner —NBA legend Michael Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets — in a league where 76.3% of the players are black.
One possible owner is a group that includes NBA Hall-of-Famer Magic Johnson, while another includes music mogul David Geffen, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Oprah Winfrey. Former Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Balmer is also said to be interested.
