REUTERS Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (left) speaks with CNN's Anderson Cooper during an interview scheduled to air Monday. 
 
 Now he’s sorry. 
 
 Billionaire bigot Donald Sterling is finally begging for forgiveness, suggesting he’s “entitled to one mistake” — despite his long history of racial discrimination. 
 
 But as the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers groveled for a second chance in an interview excerpted on Sunday — calling himself “a possible racist” — he managed to once again insult one of the NBA’s all-time-great players, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. 
 
 “He’s a good person. I mean, what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don’t think so. But I’ll say it, he’s great,” Sterling told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “But I don’t think he’s a good example for the children of Los Angeles.” 
 
 Sterling was presumably belittling Johnson for having contracted HIV. Johnson was a target of Sterling’s now-infamous racist rant in which the moneybags hatemonger blasted his ex-girlfriend, V. Stiviano, for posting on Instagram a photo of herself with the L.A. Lakers legend. 
 
 Sterling’s mea-culpa interview, which will air on Monday, came 12 days after he was banned from the NBA for life following publication of an audiotape of the rant. 
 
 “I’m a good member who made a mistake, and I’m apologizing and I’m asking for forgiveness,” the 80-year-old Sterling said in the interview. 
 
 “I’m not a racist,” Sterling insisted. “I made a terrible mistake. I’m here to apologize.” 
 
 “Am I entitled to one mistake, am I, after 35 years?” said Sterling, referring to how long he has owned the Clippers. “I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake?” 
 
 TMZ Sports V. Stiviano (right) poses with Magic Johnson and her friend Rachel Rodriguez (left), in one of the photos that led to Donald Sterling's racist rant. 
 
 But Sterling didn’t mention the three racial discrimination lawsuits he’s battled in the past eight years. He didn’t say anything about the $2.73 million fine he paid to settle a 2006 federal housing discrimination lawsuit that charged he barred Hispanics and African-Americans from renting his properties. He also glossed over being hit with an unsuccessful racial discrimination suit in 2009 by former team general manager and NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor. 
 
 Two days before Sterling admitted his regret, he told the Daily News he was wrestling with how to express “my thoughts and my feelings and what my heart says.” 
 
 But Sterling stopped short of taking full responsibility for the vile comments that were leaked to the world. 
 
 “I don’t know why the girl had me say those things,” he said of Stiviano, 31. 
 
 Asked if he was set up, Sterling replied, “Well, yes, I was baited.” 
 
 As the excerpts from the CNN interview were released Sunday, Sterling’s estranged wife, Shelly, told ABC News that she intends to divorce her husband and would “absolutely” fight the NBA to keep her stake in the Clippers if the league’s owners force her hubby to sell, as league rules allow. 
 
 NBA superstar LeBron James made it clear that Sterling, his wife and their kin are pariahs in the NBA. 
 
 “As players, we want what’s right and we ... feel like no one in his family should be able to own the team,” James said following a practice at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday. 
 
 Danny Moloshok/ASSOCIATED PRESS Sterling came under fire April 25 when the tape of him castigating his former girlfriend, V. Stiviano (left), 31, about posting photos of her posing with black athletes on Instagram was leaked. 
 
 In her interview Sunday with ABC’s Barbara Walters, Shelly Sterling said she believes her husband is suffering from the “onset of dementia.” 
 
 She said her husband told her, after the recording was published on April 25, “I don’t remember ever saying those things” to Stiviano. 
 
 “I said, ‘Well, this is the tape.’ And he says, ‘Hmm. I don’t remember it,’ ” Shelly Sterling added. “That’s when I thought he had dementia.” 
 
 “I don’t love him,” she added. “I pity him, and I feel sorry for him.” 
 
 Kirby Lee/Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Donald Sterling insisted that he wasn't a racist during his interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Enlarge Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Shelly Sterling told ABC's Barbara Walters that her estranged husband may be suffering from dementia. Enlarge Donald Sterling and estranged wife Shelly both sat down for interviews about the racist rant scandal. 
 
 Donald Sterling’s team had just begun a playoff run when the recording was published by TMZ.com, drawing an immediate rebuke from “King” James and a host of NBA players, past and present. 
 
 “Don’t bring blacks to my games,” Sterling said in the tape, lashing out at Stiviano about the picture with Johnson. 
 
 On April 29, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Sterling was booted from the league for life and would be fined $2.5 million. Then, in a secretly recorded chat with a friend on May 1, Sterling claimed he was just saying whatever it took to get Stiviano into bed. 
 
 Sterling told CNN that when he listened to the original tape he was shocked. “I don’t even know how I can say words like that,” he said. 
 
 “I never dreamed that this could happen. It’s a terrible, terrible nightmare. My players, they didn’t need this. They didn’t need this cloud over their head. They’re good people, and I love them and respect them, and I would always be there for them. 
 
 “And for them to hear that I’m a possible racist is so painful to me, ’cause I’m not a racist, and I’ve never been a racist. It’s not me.” 

 Story highlights The NBA says all owners' interests in the team could be terminated 
 
 Donald Sterling tells Anderson Cooper, "I was baited. ... That's not the way I talk" 
 
 "I'm not a racist. I made a terrible, terrible mistake," he says 
 
 "If the owners feel I have another chance, then they'll give it to me," he says 
 
 Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling says he's sorry but feels he was "baited" to make racist comments, nearly two weeks after the NBA fined him and banned him for life for his remarks in a recorded conversation. 
 
 "When I listen to that tape, I don't even know how I can say words like that. ... I don't know why the girl had me say those things," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview set to air on Monday. 
 
 "You're saying you were set up?" Cooper asked. 
 
 "Well yes, I was baited," Sterling said. "I mean, that's not the way I talk. I don't talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don't talk about people." 
 
 Sterling, an 80-year-old married lawyer and billionaire real-estate investor, hasn't spoken publicly about the accusations since celebrity gossip website TMZ posted a 10-minute audio recording of him that drew widespread condemnation from fans, players and the league. 
 
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 In that audio clip, Sterling chastised friend V. Stiviano for posting pictures online of her posing with African-Americans, including basketball Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson. 
 
 The recording triggered a firestorm that led to Sterling's lifetime ban from the NBA and a $2.5 million fine. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has asked the other 29 owners to force Sterling, the longest-tenured owner in the league, to sell the Clippers. 
 
 "I'm not a racist," Sterling told Cooper. "I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I'm here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I've hurt." 
 
 Asked by Cooper why he took so long to say he's sorry, Sterling said he was "emotionally distraught." 
 
 "The reason it's hard for me, very hard for me, is that I'm wrong. I caused the problem. I don't know how to correct it," he said. 
 
 Sterling said he doesn't want his comments to eclipse his lengthy tenure with the NBA. 
 
 "I'm a good member who made a mistake and I'm apologizing and I'm asking for forgiveness," he said. "Am I entitled to one mistake, am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? It's a terrible mistake, and I'll never do it again." 
 
 JUST WATCHED Sterling's possible excuse: I wanted sex Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sterling's possible excuse: I wanted sex 02:21 
 
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 Now, Sterling said, his fate is in the league's hands. 
 
 "If the owners feel I have another chance, then they'll give it to me," he said. 
 
 'I thought she liked me' 
 
 Last week, another audio recording surfaced online, allegedly showing Sterling trying to add context to the racist comments that got him banned from the league. 
 
 In that recording, Sterling purportedly explained that his comments were driven by jealousy. 
 
 "The girl is black. I like her. I'm jealous that she's with other black guys. I want her. So what the hell, can I in private tell her, you know, 'I don't want you to be with anybody'?" the man purported to be Sterling said in that recording, according to RadarOnline. 
 
 On Sunday, Sterling told CNN that in the recording "I spoke to a girl that I was fond of." 
 
 Stiviano told ABC News earlier this month that the recorded conversation was similar to many she's had with Sterling about race. 
 
 "There's been a number of occasions where Mr. Sterling and I had conversations just like this one," she said. "Part of what the world heard was only 15 minutes. There's a number of other hours that the world doesn't know." 
 
 Sterling told CNN he's not sure who released the recording. 
 
 "I don't know. An 80-year-old man is kind of foolish, and I'm kind of foolish. I thought she liked me and really cared for me," he said. "I guess being 51 years older than her, I was deluding myself. ... I just wish I could ask her why, and if she was just setting me up." 
 
 Sterling says he's spoken with Magic Johnson 
 
 Referring to Johnson, Sterling purportedly said on the recording: "Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put (Magic) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games." 
 
 As criticism over the recording spread, Johnson was among the first to say that Sterling should be forced to sell the team. 
 
 "He shouldn't own a team any more. And he should stand up and say, 'I don't want to own a team any more,' " Johnson said in an ABC pregame show interview last month. 
 
 Sterling told CNN he's spoken twice with Johnson. 
 
 "Did you apologize to him?" Cooper asked. 
 
 "If I said anything wrong, I'm sorry," Sterling said. "He's a good person. I mean, what am I going to say? Has he done everything he can do to help minorities? I don't think so. But I'll say it, he's great. But I don't think he's a good example for the children of Los Angeles." 
 
 Will owners force sale? 
 
 The matter of the team's sale is with the NBA's Advisory/Finance Committee, which met Wednesday in a conference call. Members discussed the "termination of Mr. Sterling's ownership of the team," the NBA said in a news release. The committee will meet again next week, the statement said. 
 
 NBA's strategy to force a sale hinges on 1981 document 
 
 If the case proceeds to a full vote, 75% of the owners would have to approve the forced sale. 
 
 However, an attorney for Donald Sterling's estranged wife, Shelly, told CNN Friday that she wants to keep her 50% stake in the team. 
 
 "She wants to remain a passive owner," said attorney Pierce O'Donnell. "She's not going to want to manage the team. She's going to want a very skilled, professional, well-heeled new owner to come in and replace Donald," O'Donnell said. "She only wants to own the team in her lifetime. She's 79 years old. At this point, she's earned it. She's been an owner for 33 years, and she's an avid fan." 
 
 In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Shelly Sterling said she was prepared to fight any attempt by the NBA to take away her stake in the team. 
 
 "I will fight that decision," she told ABC's Barbara Walters. "To be honest with you, I'm wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there's 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband? Or would they leave the husband in?" 
 
 NBA spokesman Mark Bass said in a statement after the ABC interview aired that what happens if the owners vote for a forced sale is already spelled out in the NBA Constitution. 
 
 "Under the NBA Constitution, if a controlling owner's interest is terminated by a 3/4 vote, all other team owners' interests are automatically terminated as well. It doesn't matter whether the owners are related as is the case here," he said. "These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team." 
 
 Sterling vs. the NBA: Who has the edge? 
 
 Sterling purportedly says jealousy behind racist comments
– "I'm not a racist, I made a terrible, terrible mistake," LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling told CNN's Anderson Cooper in his first public comments since the controversy over his racist remarks erupted. "When I listen to that tape, I don't even know how I can say words like that ... I don't know why the girl had me say those things," he said, claiming he was set up. "I was baited," he said. "I mean, that's not the way I talk. I don't talk about people for one thing, ever. I talk about ideas and other things. I don't talk about people." Sterling apologized and said he had made a "terrible mistake" for which he should be forgiven. "I love my league, I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake?" he asked, though he didn't mention the three racial discrimination lawsuits he has faced over the last eight years, the New York Daily News reports. The NBA may force Sterling to sell the team, but his estranged wife says she plans to divorce him—and will fight to keep her stake.