The men who will decide Donald Sterling’s fate: NBA’s other owners

As part of the NBA’s sweeping sanctions against Clippers owner Donald Sterling over his controversial racial remarks, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is urging the league’s other owners to push for the Clippers’ sale.

Silver said that if three-quarters of the league’s owners approve, or 22 of the other 29, they have the authority to remove Sterling as an owner. “We will begin that process immediately,� Silver said.

Here’s a look at the other NBA owners who would make that decision:

ATLANTA HAWKS

Principal owners: Bruce Levenson, Michael Gearon Jr.

Owned since: 2004

Background: Levenson and Gearon lead a partnership that bought the club from Time Warner. Levenson and another Hawks investor, Ed Peskowitz, co-founded United Communications Group, a business information firm. Gearon started a telecommunications firm he later sold to American Tower Corp. Gearon is the son of former Hawks executive Michael Gearon Sr., who remains a co-owner. In 2011 the group planned to sell control of the Hawks to California businessman Alex Meruelo but the deal fell through.

BOSTON CELTICS

Principal owners: H. Irving Grousbeck, Wycliffe Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca

Owned since: 2002

Background: Wycliffe Grousbeck, a former venture capitalist, led a local investment group that bought the team for $360 million. His father, H. Irving Grousbeck, co-founded Continental Cablevision, which was later sold. Pagliuca is a managing director at the Boston investment firm Bain Capital. The Celtics won the NBA title in 2008, Boston’s first in 22 years.

BROOKLYN NETS

Principal owner: Mikhail Prokhorov

Owned since: 2009

Background: The 6-foot-8 Prokhorov, with a net worth Forbes estimates at nearly $11 billion, is a Russian industrialist who bought 80% of the former New Jersey Nets, becoming the first non-American owner in the NBA. He bought the stake from developer Bruce Ratner, who led the effort to move the team to his Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn. Ratner still owns 20% of the Nets but he’s looking to sell that remaining ownership, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

CHARLOTTE BOBCATS

Principal owner: Michael Jordan

Owned since: 2010

Background: The legendary NBA player bought a majority stake in the club from Robert Johnson, becoming the first former NBA player to act as a majority owner of a league franchise. Despite retiring as a player for good in 2003, Jordan last year earned about $90 million, mostly from royalties via his partnership with Nike shoes and other merchandise, Forbes estimates.

CHICAGO BULLS

Principal owner: Jerry Reinsdorf

Owned since: 1985

Background: One of the longest-tenured owners in the NBA, Reinsdorf also is a longtime owner of baseball’s Chicago White Sox. An accountant and lawyer, he made his initial fortune in real estate. The Bulls, with Jordan as their centerpiece, won six NBA championships in the 1990s and today the franchise is estimated to be worth about $1 billion. Reinsdorf paid $16 million for the team.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Principal owner: Dan Gilbert

Owned since: 2005

Background: Gilbert is founder of Quicken Loans, a major online mortgage lender, and has a net worth estimated at $3.7 billion. He also owns Rock Ventures, which owns dozens of technology-related startup firms, and Gilbert’s Rock Gaming operates casinos.

DALLAS MAVERICKS

Principal owner: Mark Cuban

Owned since: 2000

Background: The quintessential hands-on owner who’s constantly courtside, the outspoken Cuban hit it big in the dot-com era as he and partner Todd Wagner sold Broadcast.com, an online audio and video firm, to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999. Cuban, who bought the Mavericks from H. Ross Perot Jr. for $285 million, also is one of the business “sharks� on ABC’s program “Shark Tank.�

DENVER NUGGETS

Principal owner: Stan Kroenke

Owned since: 2000

Background: Kroenke, a real estate developer married to Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton, is another billionaire who has several sports properties. He also owns the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids and the English soccer team Arsenal. Kroenke bought the Nuggets, the Avalanche and their arena in one deal for $450 million.

DETROIT PISTONS

Principal owner: Tom Gores

Owned since: 2011

Background: Gores is a billionaire Californian who leads the Beverly Hills-based investment firm Platinum Equity. The Michigan State graduate bought the then-struggling franchise from longtime owner Karen Davidson, along with the Palace of Auburn Hills arena.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Principal owners: Joe Lacob, Peter Guber

Owned since: 2010

Background: Lacob and Guber prevailed in a spirited bidding war for the franchise with a $450-million offer, an NBA record sales price at the time. Lacob is a partner at the Menlo Park venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Guber is a former Sony Pictures chairman who now heads Mandalay Entertainment. Guber also is a part owner of the Dodgers.

HOUSTON ROCKETS

Principal owner: Leslie Alexander

Owned since: 1993

Background: A former Wall Street trader, Alexander purchased the team for $85 million and the club promptly won NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. Alexander drafted and signed such players as Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming.

INDIANA PACERS

Principal owner: Herbert Simon

Owned since: 1983

Background: Another of the NBA’s longest-tenured owners, the Indianapolis-based Simon is a billionaire shopping-mall developer (Simon Property Group) who bought the team for $11 million at the request of then-Indianapolis mayor Bill Hudnut, who feared another buyer would move the club. The Pacers have never won an NBA championship for Simon.

LAKERS

Principal owners: Jeanie Buss, Buss family trust

Owned since: 2013

Background: After longtime owner Jerry Buss died in early 2013, he left his six children in charge of a family trust that has a 66% controlling stake in the team. Buss also left them a franchise valued at more than $1 billion and a 25-year, $5-billion broadcast deal with Time Warner Cable. But the franchise is in flux. After a dismal season, Coach Mike D’Antoni resigned last week.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

Principal owner: Robert Pera

Owned since: 2012

Background: Pera, formerly an engineer with Apple, is another billionaire who founded and still leads the technology firm Ubiquiti Networks Inc. He bought the team from Michael Heisley for an estimated $377 million. Heisley, who died last week, had moved the Grizzlies from Vancouver to Memphis before the start of the 2001-02 season after considering a move to Anaheim.

MIAMI HEAT

Principal owner: Micky Arison

Owned since: 1995

Background: Arison is the chairman of Carnival Corp., the major cruise-ship operator founded by his late father, Ted Arison, who also was one of the Heat’s original owners. Micky Arison has a net worth of $6.3 billion, Forbes estimates, and his LeBron James-led club has won the NBA championship the last two seasons.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS

Principal owner: Herbert Kohl

Owned since: 1985

Background: After the Bucks finished an NBA-worst 15-67, Kohl announced plans to sell the club to two New York financiers, Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens, for about $550 million, an NBA record. Kohl and the proposed buyers also each committed $100 million to build a new arena. Kohl, who bought the team for $18 million, is an heir to the Kohl’s department-store chain and a former U.S. senator from Wisconsin.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Principal owner: Glen Taylor

Owned since: 1995

Background: Taylor is a billionaire who founded and runs Taylor Corp., a leading multinational printing and graphics company. In late 2000, Taylor agreed to be suspended by the NBA for several months for his role in a deal with former player Joe Smith that violated salary cap rules. But Taylor’s position in the league has been restored; he was chairman of the NBA’s Board of Governors from 2008 to 2012 and, last month, agreed to return as interim chairman. So he’s a key figure in Silver’s bid to remove Sterling.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS

Principal owner: Tom Benson

Owned since: 2012

Background: Benson, a billionaire with holdings in commercial real estate, television stations, auto dealerships and banking, also is known as a sports patriarch in New Orleans, because he’s also owned the NFL’s Saints since 1985. He bought the NBA franchise, then called the Hornets, for about $338 million from the league, which had taken over the debt-ridden team.

NEW YORK KNICKS

Principal owner: James Dolan

Owned since: 1997

Background: Dolan, son of billionaire Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, leads Madison Square Garden Co., whose properties include the Knicks, the arena of the same name and the NHL’s New York Rangers. The Dolans also still lead Cablevision, among many holdings. James Dolan praised Silver “for acting quickly and decisively� in the Sterling matter.

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER

Principal owner: Clayton Bennett

Owned since: 2006

Background: The Oklahoma businessman led a group that bought the Seattle SuperSonics from Starbucks chief Howard Schultz for about $350 million and then, much to the dismay of Seattle, moved the team to Oklahoma City in 2008. Bennett also was a principal owner of the San Antonio Spurs in the mid-1990s, and helped with the relocation of the then-New Orleans Hornets to Oklahoma City for two seasons after Hurricane Katrina.

ORLANDO MAGIC

Principal owner: Richard DeVos

Owned since: 1991

Background: With a net worth Forbes estimates at $7.4 billion, DeVos is a co-founder of Amway, a multibillion-dollar direct seller of health, home and personal-care goods. He bought the team for $85 million; it’s now worth an estimated $560 million. DeVos said his team was “wholeheartedly behind� Silver’s push to get the Clippers sold “and plan to vote accordingly.�

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

Principal owner: Joshua Harris

Owned since: 2011

Background: A Wall Street billionaire who made his fortune in investments, Harris leads a team ownership group that includes several people, including actor Will Smith. Harris co-founded Apollo Global Management, where he remains a senior managing director. Harris and a partner also bought the NHL’s New Jersey Devils last year.

PHOENIX SUNS

Principal owner: Robert Sarver

Owned since: 2004

Background: Sarver is a Tucson native who founded the National Bank of Arizona, which he later sold, and is now chief executive of the Phoenix-based bank holding company Western Alliance Bancorporation.

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

Principal owner: Paul Allen

Owned since: 1988

Background: Allen, 61, was a co-founder of software giant Microsoft Corp. and has a net worth Forbes estimates at $15.8 billion. A college dropout and two-time cancer survivor, Allen also owns the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and is a co-owner of MLS’ Seattle Sounders. Allen went on Twitter to say he supported “Silver’s decisive action� against Sterling.

SACRAMENTO KINGS

Principal owner: Vivek Ranadive

Owned since: 2013

Background: Ranadive, a computer software pioneer from India, led an investor group that bought the Kings from the Maloof family for $534 million a year ago, at the time a league record. Ranadive is credited with helping automate Wall Street trading in the 1980s and he started his current company, TIBCO Software Inc., in 1997. Prevoiusly he was a co-owner and vice chairman of the Golden State Warriors.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Principal owner: Peter Holt

Owned since: 1996

Background: Holt is chief executive of Holt Cat, a leading dealership for Caterpillar heavy machinery. The Illinois native has kept the Spurs’ aging central cast — including Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Coach Gregg Popovich — together and has been rewarded with four NBA championships and another playoff appearance this season.

TORONTO RAPTORS

Principal owners: Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Larry Tanenbaum

Owned since: 2012

Background: The team is part of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and MLS’ Toronto FC. The company also oversees the Air Canada Centre, two TV stations and Maple Leaf Square, a Toronto commercial development. Tanenbaum is MLSE chairman and his company Kilmer Sports Inc. owns 25% of MLSE. In 2012, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada jointly acquired 75% of MLSE.

UTAH JAZZ

Principal owner: Gail Miller

Owned since: 1985

Background: Miller and her late husband, Larry Miller, acquired the Jazz in 1985 and their son Greg is chief executive. Their Larry H. Miller Group of Companies runs more than 80 businesses and properties, including EnergySolutions Arena, the Salt Lake Bees minor league baseball team, Miller Motorsports Park, movie theaters and auto dealerships.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS

Principal owner: Ted Leonsis

Owned since: 2010

Background: Leonsis heads Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the Verizon Center arena in Washington. A venture capitalist and former senior executive at AOL, Leonsis and his ownership group already were partial owners of the Wizards when they bought control of the team from the estate of longtime owner Abe Pollin, who died in 2009.

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