--- description: If there's one thing you can say about former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, it's that he's got enough passion to fill a stadium...or a basketball... title: Steve Ballmer Clippers Deal: The Former Microsoft CEO's Greatest Hits image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacb6fd709e35d688/698691f755a8595e8aa8114b/steve-ballmer-clippers1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Basketball](/tag/basketball/) ## Basketball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is the Future of the Clippers' Courtside by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 30, 2014 2:12 AM CUT  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaks at the opening of new Microsoft headquarters in Berlin on Nov. 7, 2013. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaks at the opening of new Microsoft headquarters in Berlin on Nov. 7, 2013.Britta Pedersen—DPA/AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 30, 2014 2:12 AM CUT If there’s one thing you can say about former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, it’s that he’s got enough passion to fill a stadium…or a basketball court. Ballmer recently [agreed](http://time.com/139577/former-microsoft-ceo-bids-2-billion-for-clippers/ "undefined") with Shelly Sterling to buy the Los Angeles team for a bid of $2 billion, making it the most expensive NBA team ever sold. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2793540/this-is-the-future-of-the-clippers-courtside/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2793540/this-is-the-future-of-the-clippers-courtside/"},"headline":"This Is the Future of the Clippers' Courtside","datePublished":"2014-05-30T02:12:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:07:28.685Z","description":"If there's one thing you can say about former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, it's that he's got enough passion to fill a stadium...or a basketball...","url":"https://time.com/2793540/this-is-the-future-of-the-clippers-courtside/","keywords":["Basketball","Microsoft","Steve Ballmer"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacb6fd709e35d688/698691f755a8595e8aa8114b/steve-ballmer-clippers1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacb6fd709e35d688/698691f755a8595e8aa8114b/steve-ballmer-clippers1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Steve Ballmer","caption":"Steve Ballmer","creditText":"Britta Pedersen—DPA/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/basketball/","name":"Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2793540/this-is-the-future-of-the-clippers-courtside/","name":"This Is the Future of the Clippers' Courtside"}}]}] ```