“I need 92 courts”: Patrick Beverley reminds billionaire Steve Ballmer of promise after passing on $50m deal
When Patrick Beverley re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers heading into the 2019-20 season, he did so after turning down a $50 million offer from the Sacramento Kings. At the time, he was fresh off his first full season with the team after an injury ended his season the year prior following a trade from Houston.
After Beverley agreed to take less money to stay in LA, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer allegedly told him that he would build 94 basketball courts around LA wherever the player wanted. Then, after Ballmer and the Clippers built two courts in LA, the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down and progress came to a halt.
Now, Beverley is wondering where the remaining 92 courts are. During the latest episode of his "Pat Bev Podcast with Rone" for Barstool Sports, he opened up on the situation, saying that he's been asking where the other 92 courts promised to him are.
"I take the 3-year $40 million from the Clippers. We go to the meeting at the Ritz in Marina Del Rey, and we agree to the three-year 40. And Steve Ballmer goes 'With that. I'm going to give you 94 basketball courts that you could choose to put all around LA.'"
"That's fire as f**k. I think they built two of them and then COVID hit. So I hit my agent, like, what's up with those 92 basketball courts? I see they just built the arena worth 2 billion. ... I need 92 more courts."
"What's going on with the courts Steve?" Patrick Beverley recalls asking about the 94 courts promised to him after joining Minnesota Timberwolves
After signing his three-year deal with the LA Clippers heading into the 2019-20 season, Patrick Beverley and the Clippers posted a 49-23 record that year. After a second-place finish in the regular season, the team went on to defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.
In the second round, however, the Denver Nuggets proved to be too much for them, eliminating the Clippers in a closely contested seven-game series. The following season, the Clippers traded Beverley to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a package deal.
The Grizzlies then in turn traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ended up eliminating the Clippers in the play-in tournament that same year. As he told listeners on the "Pat Bev Podcast" this week, he didn't shy away from asking about the 92 courts when the two teams played.
"You know me, I ain't a petty motherf****r. I like to keep my word. I like to honor my deals, my contracts, and sh*t like that. I need 92 more courts. I got a lot going on I want to do for the city of Los Angeles, man. I got 92 courts I want to build still. And you know me, I brung it back up.
"I was on the opposing team, I think Minnesota. I'm like, 'Yo, where the f**k my courts at?' Like, what's up?"
So far, no response yet from Ballmer, making it unclear whether the Clippers owner plans to fulfill his promise to Patrick Beverley or whether that promise died when LA traded Beverley.