Steve Ballmer’s Questionable Tactics at Lakeside School Paint a Regrettable Picture Amid Kawhi Leonard Investigation

Steve Ballmer finds himself in hot water over the NBA’s investigation into his alleged financial wrongdoings involving Kawhi Leonard’s salary. Reports stated that he paid Leonard via another company just to keep him at the Los Angeles Clippers, and now, stories of the multi-billionaire bending the rules in school basketball have also surfaced, which unfortunately doesn’t show him in a good light.

Ballmer’s kids attended Lakeside School in Washington, and there are well-known stories of how involved he was in their basketball program. And while that’s not a ‘crime’ on its own per se, a man with a net-worth of $131 billion altering the system of an institution was bound to raise some eyebrows.

Mike Baker, of the Seattle Times, pointed out in a decade-old article how Lakeside was an elite private school mainly known for its academics and other intellectual activities like chess. In basketball, they were bad. They were losing games with staggering margins, including one by 66 points. But when Ballmer‘s children got to their junior year, he decided to change that.

Ballmer, who bought the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, lured star talent to the Lions. They had no academic inclination. Their job was to simply win on the court, and they were rewarded handsomely for it. An unnamed talent was also reported to be staying at a $6 million mansion, which, quite frankly, is mind-blowing. The surprising thing? That unnamed talent would not get a degree upon graduating.

Dan Papasedero, a coach at Lakeside at the time, told Baker, “They relaxed their academic integrity to accommodate athletes.” 

The Seattle Times investigated and found that Ballmer had breached Washington state’s prep-sports rules. Yet the outrage was muted, largely because the Lions went on a winning spree that culminated in a State Finals appearance in 2013. But the controversy did not end there.

Ballmer had earlier met Steve Gordon during Microsoft’s partnership with the Seattle SuperSonics, where he allegedly outlined plans to introduce “Black players” to the Lakeside program. “I’m going to open up a foundation, and we’re going to get Black people in here,” Gordon recalled Ballmer saying.

Gordon also revealed that Ballmer went to even more extreme measures to ensure the success of the Lakeside team and was fully invested in its growth. He allegedly began paying coaches under the table, including Tavio Hobson, who was said to have received $800 a month in cash (on top of his salary). Gordon was the one paying him off, because he himself received close to $10K a month as a “gift” from Ballmer.

The Clippers owner’s past resurfacing at a time like this could spark closer scrutiny of the Leonard situation dominating today’s basketball headlines.

It is alleged that Ballmer funneled an extra $28 million to Leonard through Aspiration, a now-bankrupt sustainability fintech startup he had invested in. Both Ballmer and the Clippers have categorically denied the claims, but the final verdict is still pending.