The Los Angeles Clippers faced one of the biggest questions about their future. Who would handle the franchise’s business dealings in the absence of owner Steve Ballmer and two other top executives? Ballmer’s found a temporary answer, but an unexpected one. Instead of turning to a familiar name from the building, they have handed their top leadership duties to a longtime Los Angeles attorney.

John Gibson has been named the Clippers’ interim CEO and governor. But this isn’t his first involvement with the team. He served as lead trial counsel and also helped with litigation surrounding the LA team’s sale from Donald Sterling to Ballmer in 2014.

“I am honored to take on this responsibility and grateful for the opportunity to serve an organization I have supported for many years,” said Gibson, a long-time season ticket holder, in a statement (via NBA insider Brett Siegel). “The Clippers have talented players, coaches, and staff, an extraordinary home in Intuit Dome, and passionate Clipper Nation fans who, like me, care deeply about this team. My focus will be on supporting our people, providing steady leadership, and helping the organization continue moving forward.”

The last two words of his statement directly echo what Ballmer said earlier this month. More on that later. What has happened to the current Clippers owner, though?

The NBA suspended Ballmer after its investigation into the team’s dealings involving Kawhi Leonard found violations of endorsement agreements. The punishment also hit the franchise hard, with the Clippers fined $30 million and losing five first-round draft picks. Ballmer and Gillian Zucker were each suspended for one year, and Lawrence Frank for six months.

Ballmer did not initially intend to accept the punishment quietly. After the NBA announced its sanctions, the Clippers owner said the investigation was heavily biased and that he planned to fight the league’s ruling. However, that stance changed 11 days later…

“We are committing to put this chapter behind us,” Ballmer said. “We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine and are moving forward. While there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report, this is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support, not distract.”

With Ballmer now set to serve his suspension, the Clippers have brought in Gibson, who has no NBA ownership experience. But he is a Harvard graduate with 35 years of professional experience and has co-chaired DLA Piper’s U.S. business and commercial litigation practice.

In the sporting world, Gibson’s LinkedIn profile states that he has provided contract advisory services to prospective NFL players as an NFLPA Contract Advisor.

Gibson’s legal background will help the Clippers’ front office make decisions with much more caution, given the legal dilemma they are already bearing the consequences of. The U.S. Department of Justice, via the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also conducting active criminal and regulatory investigations into the Clippers.

Ballmer’s choice to bring Gibson on board is striking because the Clippers had an established option in Dennis Wong, the team’s vice chairman, co-owner, and Ballmer’s longtime friend. Investigative journalist Pablo Torre highlighted why the decision to go against the usual alternate governor route was possibly made.

Wong had drawn attention because of his connection to Aspiration as an investor, a company involved in the broader Leonard cap circumvention controversy. He invested nearly $2 million in the company shortly before Aspiration made a late payment ($1.75 million) to Leonard.

Now, the Wachtell report neither mentioned nor sanctioned Wong, and available reporting also does not establish that his investment was connected to the payment. Still, his presence in the story helps explain why Gibson’s appointment has generated interest.

Gibson, though, has already worked with Ballmer through one of the most turbulent ownership transitions in Clippers history, worth $2 billion from Donald Sterling, who was banned from the NBA by commissioner Adam Silver after a series of leaked recordings, including racist comments, surfaced. It is quite clear Ballmer now trusts him to step into another complicated chapter.

Although Ballmer wasn’t directly found guilty of circumventing the salary cap, the NBA found “a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations” by the Clippers. The LA franchise owner underwent a complete 180 in an attempt to move on, but insider Brian Windhorst recently shed light on other owners’ views of the 2026 scandal.

“Based on the conversations I was having, the owners were really pissed off by this report because Ballmer was well liked amongst owners, not all of them, I’m sure. But I think the owners wanted to believe him,” he began. “I talked to a handful of them over the last year, and I would always ask about it. Sometimes they would ask me what I had heard because they were not getting briefings. But I think that there was a belief that they didn’t want Steve to be guilty of this.”

It is quite unclear how the Clippers will proceed as an organization from here. Kawhi Leonard has indeed moved on to the Toronto Raptors, but the stains of the allegations against his name will affect Steve Ballmer, who has maintained his innocence, and LA for a long, long time.