Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley revealed Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is yet to fulfill his promise to build 94 basketball courts in Los Angeles.
Beverley spent four seasons with the Clippers, helping the franchise make history by reaching their first Conference Finals. While he generally looks back on his time in LA with fondness, Beverley has a bone to pick with Ballmer, who purchased the Clippers in 2014.
Ahead of the 2017 season, Beverley took a $10 million pay cut with the Clippers rather than accepting a more lucrative contract offered by the Sacramento Kings. But the NBA veteran claimed the billionaire has not yet fulfilled a side deal the pair agreed upon when the guard inked a three-year deal with the franchise.
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Discussing his Clippers tenure with co-host Adam Ferrone on their Barstool Sports ‘Pat Bev Pod’, Beverley expressed frustration over the agreement with Ballmer. The 36-year-old claimed Ballmer agreed to build 94 basketball courts in the Los Angeles community.
“So [when] I signed my deal with the Clippers, I got like a three-year, $50 million [offer] from Sacramento,” Beverley said. “And I’m like, ‘Nah I’m cool.’ Like, I want to stay with the Clippers, so I take the three-year, $40 mil [deal] from the Clippers.
“We go to the meeting at the Ritz in Marina Del Rey and we agree to the three-year, $40 mil [deal], and Steve Ballmer goes, ‘With that, I’m gonna give you 94 basketball courts that you could choose to put all around LA.’ That’s fire as —-!”
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Steve Ballmer’s Clippers recently opened a new multi-billion dollar arena (
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Beverley was a member of the Clippers from 2017-21 before joining the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks. He is now plying his trade in Israel, turning out for Hapoel Tel Aviv.
While he is playing basketball thousands of miles and several timezones away, Beverley is frustrated about Ballmer failing to hold up to his end of the bargain. The 68-year-old is the former CEO of Microsoft, and Forbes estimates his net worth at about $124 billion – so he can certainly afford it.
“I think they built two of them and then COVID hit, so I hit my agent and I’m like, ‘What’s up with those 92 basketball courts?’” Beverley continued. “I see they just built the arena worth $2 billion.”
He added: “I need 92 more courts. I got a lot going on I want to do for the city of Los Angeles. I got 92 courts I want to build still.”
