Despite his denial, Magic Johnson and his partners are still 'angling' to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers, once incumbent owner Donald Sterling is booted out of the league for good, a source close to situation reported on Tuesday.

According to Real GM, the NBA legend and his team are devising a grand plan to buy the Clippers from Sterling with the help of 29 others owners.

"Magic Johnson spent a good part of Monday publicly denying any interest in purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers, but sources say he and potential investors spent part of the day working behind the scenes to understand how they could be put in a position to make a deal for the franchise," Real GM reported.

However, Johnson's desire to get the Clippers, if it is indeed truth, could be a long battle as sources indicated that Sterling plans to sue the league for devaluing his franchise.

"They're the stars of the Clippers show now, not Sterling anymore," one deposed Clippers official told Yahoo Sports. "They moved him aside and he didn't matter anymore.

"But now, this [scandal] has made him relevant again. In his mind, he's the star of the Clippers again. Everybody's talking about him again. In his own way, he'll revel in this. I would bet there's no way [Sterling] will give in and sell his team. There's no way that he's going to do anything but stay and fight everyone until the very end to hold onto this."