The son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was found dead of an apparent drug overdose at his Malibu home, authorities said Wednesday.

The body of Scott Ashley Sterling, 32, was found shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz said.

The death cast a pall on what has been a joyous season for the Clippers, normally an NBA doormat but now among the league’s best teams. The team is in first place in its division and had a franchise-record 17-game winning streak that was snapped Tuesday.

Sterling, 77, a billionaire real estate mogul who purchased the team in 1981, and wife Shelley released a statement thanking friends for sympathy, asking for privacy and saying their son was diabetic, but did not indicate what role, if any, that may have played in his death.

– Reported by the Associated Press