Steve Ballmer – Page 7 – Syndication Server

Clippers making progress in new arena

LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is in advanced negotiations to purchase The Forum in Inglewood from the Madison Square Garden Company, an acquisition that would clear a major hurdle in the Clippers’ efforts to construct a new home arena in the vicinity, according to league sources.

The current owner of The Forum, MSG, which also owns the New York Knicks, has been locked in a protracted legal battle with the city of Inglewood and Ballmer for the better part of two years over Ballmer’s parcel, which sits a mile from The Forum. MSG, whose executive chairman and chief executive officer is embattled Knicks governor James L. Dolan, alleged that the city violated an agreement not to promote competition to The Forum by working with the Clippers to develop an arena nearby. MSG also claimed the city deceived MSG by convincing it to cede land near The Forum for a technology park that was ultimately sold to Ballmer, in what MSG characterized as a back-room deal. Murphy’s Bowl LLC, the entity owned by Ballmer to advance the Clippers project, intervened in the proceedings to represent the Clippers’ interests in their arena project.

There are three current active suits in the battle, including two by community groups, including IRATE (Inglewood Residents Against Takings and Evictions), an organization bankrolled in part by MSG. The Environmental Impact Report for the project was submitted by Inglewood to the court on Dec. 27, with a 30-day window for community groups and interested parties to respond with concerns, a timeline that was extended another 30 days on Feb. 10. After the most recent torrent of lawsuits, the two sides began engaging in substantive discussions to resolve the stalemate. Sources say that a potential sale of The Forum proved to be the path of least resistance for both sides, which have collectively spent tens of millions of dollars on litigation, with more actions to adjudicate. Sources say an agreement is imminent.

He is likely to command at least triple his current $6 million salary this summer, which, as it stands now, would push the Clippers into the luxury tax. While Harrell embodies the hard-nosed ethos owner Steve Ballmer grew to admire as a Detroit Pistons fan in his youth, the prospect of having him leave for nothing in return or being financially handcuffed for the foreseeable future could influence the Clippers’ deadline strategy, several opposing executives say.

“The Clippers have a real dilemma,” one Western Conference scout says. “Montrezl wants to get paid, but he does most of his damage against backups. If you already have Paul [George] and Kawhi [Leonard] on your books, can you pay him what he’s going to want?”

As the president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Clippers, the Teaneck native and former New Jersey Nets head coach is playing a significant role in the transformation of the NBA landscape in Los Angeles, working for an owner he reveres in Steve Ballmer and alongside close friend and head coach Doc Rivers. Together they guided the Clippers out of a dark period and into a run of sustained success. Now the Clippers, after a summer that included signing Kawhi Leonard and trading for Paul George, are one of the top teams in the Western Conference and a contender for the franchise’s first NBA championship.

Jamal Crawford, the NBA’s three-time sixth man of the year, played for the Clippers under both regimes. He sent WUSA9 a video Monday thanking Ballmer for not just his generosity but his social conscience. “You’ve always cared about the right things in life,” Crawford says into his iPad camera. “Even as the years went on, you didn’t just care about things pertaining to what your interests might be. You care about everybody, and that says a lot. Keep doing the work you’re doing and I’m proud to call you a friend.”

The California Air Resources Board has granted fast-track approval to a proposed $1.2 billion Los Angeles Clippers arena in Inglewood that should allow the project to be finished in time for a 2024 basketball season. After nearly a year of back-and-forth negotiations, CARB determined last week that the project will not result in a net increase in greenhouse gases and, thus, qualifies for special protections from environmental lawsuits that could otherwise stall construction for years.