LOS ANGELES, July 9 — Donald Sterling said he wouldn’t have let two doctors examine him if he knew they were “adversaries” who sought to declare him mentally incapacitated so his wife could sell the Los Angeles Clippers without his consent.

Sterling, 80, testified on the second day of a trial that will determine whether Shelly Sterling can complete the sale of the National Basketball Association team to former Microsoft Corp chief executive officer Steve Ballmer for US$2 billion (RM6.34 billion).

One doctor who met with Donald Sterling wanted to go have drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge before finishing the exam, he testified. The second doctor “snuck into my tiny, little lounge and sat so close to me I couldn’t breathe,” he said.

“She’s a good person,” Sterling said about his wife after testifying that she assured him the doctor exams were routine. He called the NBA “bad people,” adding that Shelly Sterling is “terrified and frightened of the NBA”.

The NBA banned Donald Sterling for life and fined him US$2.5 million in April after TMZ.com reported that he told a girlfriend he didn’t want her to bring black people to Clippers games or post photos online of herself with former NBA All-Star Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

Ballmer required as a condition for the sale that Shelly Sterling get confirmation from a judge that she can sell the team without her husband’s approval.

The two doctors who examined Sterling concluded he lacked competency to share control of the family trust, which his wife argues gives her sole authority over the assets, including the Clippers.

The case is In the Matter of the Sterling Family Trust, BP152858, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County (Los Angeles). — Bloomberg