LOS ANGELES >> Days after Donald Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and in jeopardy of losing his Los Angeles Clippers, he was trying to ensure that the woman who led to his downfall had a house of her own.

In a recording played Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Sterling told V. Stiviano that he wanted her to give up the house he bought her that his wife was seeking in court as community property the couple acquired over six decades of marriage. He said he was going to figure out a way to get her another home.

Stiviano didn’t want to give up anything and she wanted him to tell his wife he bought the house for her.

"Sweetie," Sterling said, "she’s going to be hassling you all the time."

"There’s nothing wrong with you saying, ‘This is my confidante, my everything … and I wanted to help her and her family,’" Stiviano replied in the May 2 conversation.

The recording was one of several played as Stiviano fights to protect the $1.8 million duplex and millions of dollars in cars, jewelry and other gifts Shelly Sterling claims were deceptively taken from her husband by the seductive younger woman.

During the sometimes flippant testimony, the 32-year-old said she loved Donald Sterling and referred to him as her "hubby," but said they never were romantic despite sharing a room on trips to Dubai, Paris and Las Vegas.

Shown several photos of her nuzzling the 80-year-old, she denied kissing him.

"I don’t know if you call duck lips or pucker lips kissing," she said, getting laughs from the gallery.

When asked if she hated Shelly Sterling, she didn’t hold back.

"She is a bully," she said. "That’s exactly what I thought she was — the evil witch of the west."

The trial has provided a backstory of sorts to the saga that played out last year when the recording of Donald Sterling telling Stiviano not to publicly associate with blacks culminated with his ouster from the NBA and led to a record $2 billion sale of the team.

Stiviano said she had 500 recordings of Sterling and some of those are now being used against her.

In one snippet played Thursday, Donald Sterling is heard telling Stiviano he wants to give her everything.

"I would rather give you cash," he said just after the house was purchased in December 2013. "But that’s not going to make you happy. That’s why I have to buy you that car. Because you’re stubborn and you’re pushy and I love you so much."

"Not only do I want a car," Stiviano replied, "I want a new camera and I want a new lens."

In several clips, Sterling tried to explain how someone could claim a sports car and house as community property and that one day she would ask why the assets were structured that way.

"I will say, ‘Because you didn’t listen to me,’" Sterling said.

"Do you think I can hide the house?" Stiviano replied.

A judge will decide as soon as Friday whether Stiviano relinquish the gifts that an accountant valued conservatively at $3.6 million.

Her lawyer says most of the funds can’t be connected directly from Sterling to Stiviano and that the law doesn’t allow a spouse to go after a third party in such a case. Lawyers on both sides said there’s no precedent for such a case.

Judge Richard Fruin Jr. cast doubt on Shelly Sterling’s case Thursday, saying there’s no clear documentation that funds went from the Sterling family’s real estate company to Stiviano’s bank accounts.