The Clippers have selected Los Angeles attorney John Gibson to lead the organization during Steve Ballmer’s one-year suspension.
The NBA approved Gibson as the team’s interim governor and CEO after Ballmer nominated him for the positions, ESPN reported.
The Clippers subsequently confirmed the appointment. Gibson will oversee their basketball and business operations while representing the franchise at NBA Board of Governors meetings.
“My focus will be on supporting our people, providing steady leadership, and helping the organization continue to move forward,” Gibson said in the team’s announcement.
Gibson spent more than 35 years practicing law and previously worked as a litigation partner at DLA Piper. He later joined the Clippers and has been a longtime season-ticket holder.
His assignment is hardly ceremonial. Ballmer was barred from all team activities after a league investigation concluded that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap by arranging “no-show” endorsement agreements for former star Kawhi Leonard. The league also stripped Los Angeles of five draft picks.
Ballmer remains the franchise’s majority owner. He simply cannot operate it during the suspension.
The Clippers bypassed minority owner and alternate governor Dennis Wong, who was not disciplined by the NBA but was reportedly involved in a 2022 investment in Aspiration, one of the companies central to the Leonard matter.
Gibson now becomes the public face of an organization still dealing with consequences beyond the NBA’s penalties. Federal prosecutors also are examining the Clippers’ dealings with Leonard.
The job, then, involves more than maintaining continuity. Gibson has been asked to steady a franchise whose ownership conduct remains under scrutiny.
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