The Los Angeles Clippers have only been owned by Steve Ballmer for a few months, but star player Blake Griffin has already thrown his support fully behind the former Microsoft CEO. Comparing the Clippers' new owner to their previous one, Donald Sterling, in a piece for The Players' Tribune, Griffin likened Ballmer to a "cool dad who gives you candy."
Blake Griffin calls Steve Ballmer ‘a cool dad,’ Donald Sterling a ‘weird uncle’
The Clippers’ star forward has some interesting stories to tell about his experiences as a player under the different Clippers ownerships.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
It’s little bit ironic to me that the media has tried to turn Ballmer into a meme when they turned a blind eye to Sterling for years. Steve is a good dude. He’s like a cool dad who gives you candy. Donald was like a weird uncle.
Ballmer purchased the Clippers from Sterling for $2 billion earlier this year after the NBA moved to ban the owner for offensive comments made on a now-infamous audio recording. Sterling had a long history of racism before the revelation, but was never a target of the league’s attention until the initial TMZ report.
Sterling also happens to be a really bizarre guy and terrible party host, according to Griffin, who was drafted by the team in 2008. The article opens with Griffin painting the picture of a “White Party” hosted by Sterling that he attended as a 20-year-old rookie.
You know that thing elderly women do where they grab the top of your hand with just their fingers and lead you around? That’s what he was doing. We were in Malibu for his annual White Party, and it was the first time I was meeting him since the Clippers had drafted me in the spring of 2009.
Griffin goes on to describe a number of bizarre interactions with other party guests, all while Sterling, wearing all black at his own all white party, of course, awkwardly directed him about by hand. If you wanted the easiest explanation as to how Sterling went about behaving this way most of the time, Griffin summed it up pretty nicely:
The guy was my boss. Ask yourself, how would you react if your boss was doing the same thing to you?
Ballmer, on the other hand, has completely changed the environment around the franchise. To hear the way Griffin describes the transformation -- not only from Sterling’s cheapness to Ballmer’s win-at-all-costs attitude, but in terms of the way employees are treated as people -- Ballmer’s tenure as owner has started as well as it possibly could have.
When I walked into the training facility for the first time this summer, the entire vibe was different. People were smiling. From the security people to the game operations staff to the office staff, everybody seemed happy to be there. For the first time ever, they were on permanent contracts. Under Sterling, all the staff were on temporary contracts. Top to bottom, everybody just appreciates being appreciated now.
As for the $2 billion payout that Sterling received for selling the team, Griffin just wants to focus on the positive thing: “But in the end, I’m just happy he’s gone.”
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