When Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, he instantly became the wealthiest owner in NBA history. But in the decade since, his wealth has increased to make him nearly 10 times wealthier than any other owner. That appears to be making his counterparts nervous.
On Tuesday's episode of The Dan Le Batard Show, Le Batard suggested that some of the league's recent actions against Ballmer, such as putting the Kawhi Leonard trade to Toronto on hold, is a result of the league owners being "afraid of Steve Ballmer's money." Le Batard explained that Ballmer is so wealthy that he can potentially take them to court over the legitimacy of the league's salary cap if he doesn't get his way.
“I’ve been sort of confused by why it’s taking so long, and the reason it’s taking so long is because the owners are afraid of Steve Ballmer’s money,” Le Batard said.
“And they’re afraid that the entire construct of what it is that they built, the salary cap illusion of, ‘we’re all in partnership on equity,’ is going to fall apart if you punish him so much… that he then takes to court, ‘Hey you don’t have the right as the commissioner of the league to do all of this stuff to me just because you say.’ And I am alarmed that people with this kind of money are this kind of afraid of Steve Ballmer’s money. Because these are not un-wealthy people...
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“What is he going to do with the money that makes them afraid? And what he can do is, like, ‘The salary cap’s a sham, I don’t have to respect this. Why do I have to respect this?'” Le Batard suggested.
"And now you’ve got people being deposed, and a commissioner, like, ‘What do you mean you get to make all the rules on something I own?’ Yeah, it’s collectively bargained; let’s try to see what comes up in court. You guys all want to come to court to me? The answer’s no. The answer is they’re afraid of what he can do publicly to them with his money.”
Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Ballmer vs. the NBA
Last year Ballmer was at the center of a scandal involving Kawhi accepting no-show jobs endorsement deals with a company called Aspiration in order to allegedly circumvent the NBA salary cap. The story, published by Pablo Torre, won a Pulitzer Prize.
Ballmer has denied any wrongdoings but it certainly does make you wonder whether the man with a net worth of over $100 billion perhaps got tired of being forced to sit on his riches like a dragon while his team struggles to even make the playoffs, let alone win an NBA title.
