Steve Ballmer suspension oddly feels like justice for doing Blake Griffin wrong

Steve Ballmer is serving a one-year suspension for his role in the LA Clippers' Kawhi Leonard cap-circumvention scandal; he initially said he would fight it but has since said he will comply with the punishment.

The whole thing had nothing to do with Blake Griffin, who retired from the NBA three years ago and last suited up for the Clippers in January 2018, more than a year before they lured Leonard to Los Angeles.

While Ballmer didn't commit any league offenses in how he handled the end of Griffin's time in LA, why not pretend his current situation is a kind of payback for doing the superstar wrong?

Half a year after the Clippers rolled out the red carpet for Griffin in 2017 free agency, holding a mock jersey retirement where they literally raised a custom jersey to the rafters, calling him a "Clipper for life" and convincing him to stay with the team on what was a five-year, $173 million maximum deal, they banished him to Detroit.

In return, LA received Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovich, a 2018 protected first-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick. Ballmer said it helped the Clippers adjust to the "modern NBA," upping their chances of competing for a title, a direction he believed they were headed in.

Apparently, the last step in getting there was caving to Uncle Dennis' demands, since Kawhi reportedly wasn't aware of what was actually going on, but that's a whole different topic.

Ballmer handled Blake Griffin's situation terribly

It was like Ballmer, who has no problem flaunting his wealth (see the Intuit Dome), putting together an exquisite ceremony to convince a superstar to stay, only to turn around and trade him a few months later. Now, things can change on a dime, especially in the NBA, but he put his foot in his mouth by promising something that wouldn't come true.

Less than a year later, on Griffin's first return to LA since the trade, Ballmer stood on the floor, waiting to greet Blake.

Before Griffin took off to retreat down the tunnel, Ballmer walked toward him, arm out for a handshake, but Blake didn't stop. It looked like he sprinted off the floor faster than usual, but after the game, he said he was simply following his pregame routine, which he wouldn't change for "anybody."

Sticking to his routine worked, as he dropped 44 points that night in the Pistons' 109-104 win over the Clippers.

A couple of months later, on the "Pardon My Take" podcast, Griffin confirmed that he saw Ballmer standing there, and he added:

"You have my number. You have my agent's number. You have my brother's number. If you wanted to say, 'Hey, let's meet in the hallway; let's meet outside the locker room.' Absolutely, cool. Before the game, after that happened, one of his people called my agent and said, 'Hey, can Blake go up to him before jump ball?' Come to me as a man."

Ballmer still can't get out of his own way

Here we are, nearing the end of 2026, and Ballmer can only say that he's hurt the organization more than he helped, and that extends beyond the Leonard saga, which is, of course, the biggest part.

Last December, the Clippers abruptly waived Chris Paul during a road trip in Atlanta, months after he reunited with LA on a one-year deal and a month after he confirmed it would be his final season in the NBA. It was another example of the organization mishandling a situation and disrespecting a player who meant so much to them (or, at least, was supposed to).

Griffin, who is part of Amazon Prime's NBA crew, spoke about how his former teammate was treated (subscription required):

“You can build a new arena. You can be at games. You can cheer on the team. You can have all this high energy. But at the end of the day, an organization is built on a foundation of respect and how you treat people. I don’t think that, in this situation, Chris was treated right."

Reading that, especially the part about what an organization should be built on, it's hard not to apply it to how LA handled Griffin's free agency, the trade, and the aftermath.

Clippers' Kawhi punishment isn't karma—it's just Ballmer being Ballmer

Ballmer isn't literally getting his payback for how he treated Griffin (or even Paul). But it is a case of a man who thought his invincibility protected his recklessness being held accountable for his actions, and that in itself feels like a win, though it's unfair that it's the fans and players who got hurt most by it.

For Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO, the $30 million fine wasn't much of a big deal. You could even say it was probably easier for him to do that than to spend a year away from the organization, going stir-crazy. Based on his history, the Clippers should be better off for it.

Regardless of what his future looks like with the organization and whether he can mend things (if that's even possible), LA can start to right some of its wrongs by raising Blake Griffin's jersey to the rafters—for real this time. He may not have literally been a "Clipper for life," but he deserves to be honored for being one, anyway.

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