NBA Rumors: Steve Ballmer says he won’t move an NBA franchise to Seattle

With the Donald Sterling mess only getting started, we are bound to hear more and more names of rich celebrities who want to buy the team and reduce them from the cold, clammy and legitimately insane hands of Donald Sterling and his soon-to-be ex-wife Shelly.

One name we’ reheard mentioned is that of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is a noted die-heard basketball fan and seems to be trying to buy a team somewhere. But while he’s a Seattle man and the fans there want basketball returned to them, Ballmer noted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he will not be moving a team to Seattle if he buys one.

"I love basketball, and I’d love to participate at some point in the NBA. If the opportunity is outside of Seattle, so be it. I will learn about any team that comes up for sale at this point."

He also reiterated that if he comes into ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, the team will be staying in Southern California and won’t move up to the Pacific Northwest.

"If I get interested in the Clippers, it would be for Los Angeles. I don’t work anymore, so I have more geographic flexibility than I did a year, year-and-a half ago. Moving them anywhere else would be value destructive."

This is what we’ve heard in the recent past from Ballmer and he seems to be sticking to his guns. While a move could end up happening anyways, it’s starting to sound like if we want basketball in Seattle again then the NBA will have to expand.