This could wind up being a pretty short ban.

Disgraced racist Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is battling cancer — surprising those around him by beating the final buzzer for as long as he has, sources told The Post on Thursday.

“They thought he would die two years ago,” one source said of Sterling, who on Tuesday was banned for life from the NBA for his now-infamous recorded racist rant.

“People have been predicting his imminent demise. I’m sure he has the best . . . drugs money can buy,” said the source, who works closely with pro sports teams. “He can do anything to keep himself alive.”

The source said some of the medication Sterling has been taking is responsible for the puffy appearance of his face.

Another source said Sterling, 80, was specifically suffering from prostate cancer.

In an ironic twist, Sterling refused to pay for prostate-cancer surgery a decade ago for then-Clippers assistant coach Kim Hughes.

“I contacted the Clippers about medical coverage and they said the surgery wouldn’t be covered,” Hughes told The Journal Times of Racine, Wis., in 2011.

“They said if they did it for one person, they’d have to do it for everybody else.”

Four Clippers players chipped in to cover the $70,000 cost.

Meanwhile, Sterling has been phoning friends for support, sources said.

The only recourse for someone like Donald Sterling is to come out and say: ‘I am a racist . . . I will spend the rest of my life trying [to change].’ - Media Consultant Bobby Grossman

“He’s calling everyone, saying: ‘Tell me I’m not a racist,’ ” a source said, noting that the friends are refusing, for fear that Sterling was recording them.

Sources said Sterling has also been telling friends that he doesn’t understand the public furor over his recorded comments to then-girlfriend V. Stiviano, whom he scolded for publicly “associating with black people” and told not to bring any black friends to “my games.”

And insiders at ABC said Sterling was in negotiations to chat with Barbara Walters for a “20/20” interview.

An ABC spokesman declined to comment.

Media consultant Bobby Grossman said Sterling’s best hope for public forgiveness would be to “confront his demons, but he’s got to be honest about it.”

“The only recourse for someone like Donald Sterling is to come out and say: ‘I am a racist . . . I will spend the rest of my life trying [to change].’ ”

Sources also said that since the scandal erupted last week, Sterling has been holed up in the penthouse atop a nearly empty office building he owns in Beverly Hills.

He fled the oceanfront Malibu mansion he shares with his estranged wife, Shelly, paranoid about being electronically recorded, a neighbor said.

“She and Donald think there are bugs everywhere since this happened, even on their phones . . . At the office, there’s concrete walls . . . and they can sweep for bugs,” the neighbor said.

On Thursday, a deliveryman brought two pizzas to the penthouse. Sterling’s office didn’t return a call for comment.