In November 2014, Gillian Zucker turned the president of enterprise operations for the LA Clippers following a nine-year stint as president of Auto Membership Speedway. Zucker represented the primary main rent that Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer made after buying the crew within the 2014 offseason, and Zucker has been tasked with main Ballmer’s imaginative and prescient for revamping the franchise. It’s a partnership that’s coming into a ninth season in 2022-23.
Zucker sat down with The Athletic for an unique interview to debate the model of the Clippers and the way it has developed over time.
The very first thing I wish to discuss to you about: I requested you some time in the past, I’m all the time fascinated once I go on the NBA web site, and it says “LA Clippers” as a substitute of Los Angeles Clippers. That was an official change. You’ve defined what’s behind that, the way it’s not an enormous deal. However how would you describe how that occurred?
I imply, I feel it was simply basically that we had been the one crew within the league that whenever you mentioned “Los Angeles,” you didn’t truly know what crew they had been speaking about. It may have been both of us. That wasn’t the identical for New York, that you realize is the Knicks. Or Brooklyn, that you realize is the Nets. And so I simply actually felt prefer it was essential there can be a distinction — that when folks see “LA,” they know which crew they’re speaking about. When folks say “Los Angeles,” they know what crew they’re speaking about, in league standings and listings.
In order that was actually the impetus for it. It’s not any type of official change.
