Steve Ballmer Claims Clippers Will Lose At Least $10 Million Over Season Suspension

Wednesday will mark three weeks since the NBA put its 2019-20 season on pause due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak.

The NBA decided to suspend the season after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. Teammate Donovan Mitchell and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics later tested positive as well, but all three players have since been cleared.

The league has not decided yet if they will cancel the season. The NHL and MLS also put their respective seasons on hold, while the 2020 MLB season has been suspended indefinitely; it was slated to begin last Thursday.

Public health and safety is the top priority here, and NBA owners are fully preparing to lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" during the 2019-20 shutdown.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer revealed that his team stands to lose at least $10 million dollars during the 2019-20 season shutdown.

"It’ll be eight digits," Ballmer said. "Now you’ve got to start with what we were either going to make or lose before the season started, but net, net, net, it’ll certainly be an eight-digit loss for us."

Prior to suspension, his Clippers stood second in the Western Conference with a 44-20 record. The club was in the midst of its most highly anticipated season ever, having signed 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard before trading for Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Paul George in the offseason. Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to the NBA Championship last season before he decided to join his hometown team.

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The Clippers entered the 2019-20 season as one of the primary favorites to win the NBA Championship. Only the Los Angeles Lakers (49-14) were ahead of them in the Western Conference standings. The Milwaukee Bucks hold the league's best record at 53-12.

Forbes estimates that Ballmer, who previously served as the CEO for Microsoft, is worth $55 billion. So losing $10-plus million obviously isn't going to seriously impact the big market Clippers, compared to smaller market teams with less revenue streams.

Ballmer announced last week that he and wife Connie would donate over $25 million to help fight the COVID-19 virus.

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