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To the surprise of almost no one and to the shock of perhaps only disgraced former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be the new owner of the Clippers. Only a final decision from the judge is required and an approval from the NBA, but it looks like Ballmer is ready to go.
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Ballmer was born in Detroit, his father was a Swiss immigrant and his mother was Jewish (her family immigrated from Belarus).
While there is some chatter that Ballmer said Seattle needs a team, it is not likely he will move the team away from L.A. Ballmer had to pay $2 billion to become the official new owner from of the Clippers and wait out some legal delays. A California court upheld permission to Donald’s estranged wife to sell the team, while Donald continued to raise objections and fight tooth and nail. However, Sterling lost his credibility and respect among many when he rambled racist comments to a girlfriend about not being seen with black guests at games in a conversation she recorded. With Sterling exposed as a racist and banned from the NBA, it isn’t surprising that the judge used a rarely used provision allowing Shelly full rights to sell the Clippers.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers seems thrilled to have the former Microsoft boss as the owner of his team. The Guardian reports Rivers, who threatened to quit if Sterling had remained the owner, said, “This is an amazing new day in Clippers history. I couldn’t be more excited to work together with Steve as we continue to build a first-class, championship organization.”
