Clippers Appoint Steve Ballmer-Nominated CEO After NBA Punishment

This isn't the first time the Clippers have needed an outside executive to steady the ship during a franchise crisis. Back in 2014, the NBA installed former Time Warner chief Dick Parsons as interim CEO after the Donald Sterling scandal The Clippers now find themselves leaning on a similar emergency measure, only this time, the person picking the replacement is the owner himself.

The Clippers have named John Gibson, an accomplished Los Angeles-based attorney, as the franchise's interim Governor and CEO, according to Shams Charania. Steve Ballmer nominated Gibson for the role, and the NBA has since approved the appointment, filling a leadership gap that opened up when Ballmer was banned from all league activities for a full year.

The Clippers got banned after the league found that they engaged in salary-cap circumvention tied to a since-voided endorsement arrangement involving Kawhi Leonard.

The league's investigation resulted in a $30 million fine, the forfeiture of five future first-round picks, and suspensions for multiple top executives. It left the franchise without its principal decision-maker at the exact moment it needs steady hands running the business and basketball operations.

Gibson's legal background gave him the kind of standing the league appears comfortable with for a role like this. It mirrored how the NBA leaned on Parsons's executive credentials during the Sterling fallout.

Handing Ballmer the ability to nominate his own successor, rather than the league unilaterally appointing one, also signaled that the NBA wanted this transition to feel like an internal succession rather than a hostile takeover of the franchise.

Gibson steps into a front office already reshaped by the fallout. Team president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was banned for six months and president of business operations Gillian Zucker was suspended for a full year in the same set of penalties. Gibson will oversee an organization with several key figures sidelined at once.

Whoever runs the Clippers' day-to-day operations in the interim will likely be the one finalizing the transition away from Kawhi Leonard.

The Clippers are planning to move past its most damaging chapter in over a decade. Gibson's appointment offers outside credibility, and a chance to stabilize the front office, and let the basketball side operate with as little disruption as possible.

Whether it works as smoothly as it did in 2014 will depend largely on how quickly the Clippers can put the circumvention case fully behind them.