Steve Ballmer Denies Wrongdoing Amid Clippers Lawsuit and Stadium Plans

New arena, high-profile players, and a lawsuit shape Ballmer’s Clippers legacy

Steve Ballmer, who once ran Microsoft from the captain’s chair between 2000 and 2014, didn’t just ride off into the tech sunset—he dove headfirst into the NBA, buying the Los Angeles Clippers for a jaw-dropping $2 billion in 2014. Since then, he’s played a high-stakes game of basketball chess, bringing in heavy hitters like James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. And if you thought Ballmer was just about the players, think again—he’s also the driving force behind the Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ shiny new home expected to open for the 2024–2025 season. Ballmer’s vision? To give the Clippers their own unique stamp on LA, even as roster turbulence followed Chris Paul’s shocking Clippers exit.

But it’s not all slam dunks and ribbon cuttings. Ballmer and the Clippers are now tangled in a legal full-court press, facing a lawsuit that claims he tried to sneak around the NBA’s salary cap by making hush-hush payments to Kawhi Leonard through a company called Aspiration, now known as Catona. The suit alleges Ballmer sweetened the pot to keep Leonard in Clippers blue, offering perks that go beyond what the NBA rulebook allows. Ballmer, for his part, has flat-out denied any wrongdoing—no smoke, no fire, if you ask him—while the team simultaneously navigates ongoing discussions about locker-room dynamics and Ty Lue denying a Chris Paul rift.

For those who don’t know, Ballmer’s journey started way back in 1980 when he became Microsoft’s 30th employee, after a fateful meeting with Bill Gates at Harvard. Fast forward to today, and he says he’s still holding tight to his original four percent stake in Microsoft, making him the company’s largest individual shareholder—a fact that would make anyone’s accountant swoon. Forbes pegs the Clippers’ value at a cool $5.5 billion, a valuation buoyed in part by sustained on-court excellence, including nights like Kawhi Leonard’s 55-point career performance that kept the spotlight firmly on basketball.

And it’s not just basketball and business—since 2014, Ballmer and his family have given away around $5.7 billion to charity. That’s enough to make even the most seasoned philanthropist do a double take.

As the legal drama unfolds, Ballmer remains as unflappable as ever, insisting the Clippers have played by the rules. He’s got his eyes on the prize: building a powerhouse for the future. For a deeper dive into Ballmer’s take on the investigation, check out: “This too shall pass” - Steve Ballmer responds to Kawhi Leonard investigation, insists Los Angeles Clippers did nothing wrong.