LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Donald Sterling and estranged wife Shelly discussed their future with the Los Angeles Clippers in separate interviews Sunday.
In his first sit-down interview since being banned for life from the NBA, Clippers owner Donald Sterling apologized for his racist comments captured on tape and asked for forgiveness.
"And I'm so sorry, and I'm so apologetic," Donald Sterling told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
In the interview, which will air in its entirety Monday night on AC360, Donald Sterling said he's "not a racist," he loves the league, his partners and believes he's "entitled to one mistake" after more than three decades as an owner. He told Cooper that he's not ready to give up the team.
"I'm a good member who made a mistake," Donald Sterling 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. ... If the owners feel I deserve another chance, then they'll give it to me."
"My players, they didn't need this. They didn't need this cloud over their head, and they're good people and I love them and I respect them and I would always be there for them. For them to hear that I'm a possible racist is so painful to me because I'm not a racist," he added.
Donald Sterling said he personally called Magic Johnson to apologize for his remarks, but told Cooper he doesn't think [Johnson] is "a good example for the children of Los Angeles."
So why did Donald Sterling wait so long to apologize publicly? He said he's been "too 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.
In an exclusive interview with ABC's Barbara Walters Sunday, Shelly Sterling said she will fight to retain her 50 percent ownership stake in the NBA team.
She told Walters, if the NBA tries to force her to sell her share, she will fight to retain her ownership, saying she shouldn't be punished for her disgraced husband's actions.
"I will fight that decision," she told 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?"
An audio recording captured Donald Sterling urging V. Stiviano, his archivist, not to bring black people to Clippers games or to post photos of herself with black friends on her Instagram account. Donald Sterling told Cooper that he felt he was "baited" by Stiviano into making the leaked racist comments.
"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. "I was baited, I mean, that's not the way I talk."
When Walters asked Shelly Sterling if she supported the NBA's decision to ban her estranged husband, Shelly answered carefully.
"I can't comment on that. I was shocked by what he said and, you know, I guess whatever their decision is we have to live with it," she replied.
Shelly Sterling also told Walters that she plans to eventually divorce her husband, but hasn't done so due to financial considerations. Nevertheless, she showed Walters the papers that she is waiting to file. Shelly Sterling also told Walters her husband is suffering from early "onset of dementia". She said she never heard him say derogatory remarks toward black or Hispanic people before she heard the tape.
"I have never heard him say racial things. I don't know, it was horrible when I heard it, I mean, it was just degrading, and it made me sick to hear it," she said. "But as far as a racist, I don't really think he is a racist."
The timeline for a forced sale, which would require a three-fourths vote from the owners, is still being discussed.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass immediately commented on Shelly Sterling's plan to fight for the team and keep her 50 percent of the franchise: "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. These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team."
Shelly Sterling's attorney, Pierce O'Donnell, responded to the NBA's statement.
"We do not agree with the league's self-serving interpretation of its constitution, its application to Shelly Sterling or its validity under these unique circumstances," O'Donnell said. "We live in a nation of laws. California law and the United States Constitution trump any such interpretation."
Meanwhile, Miami Heat player Lebron James also commented on the future of the league. He said that NBA players believe no members of Sterling's family should be able to own the league.
"As players, we want what's right and we don't feel like no one in his family should be able to own the team," James said after the Miami Heat practiced for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Brooklyn.
Dick Parsons, who the NBA appointed as interim CEO of the L.A. Clippers, will be in L.A. Monday.
The L.A. Clippers beat the OKC Thunder 101-99 on Sunday to tie the Western Conference semifinal series 2-2.
ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.