He was initially viewed as little more than the NBA's richest mascot, a lovable, lumbering, fist-pumping fan who led cheers from the baseline and signed the checks from afar.
But this season, his inherited team dissolving, his comfortable world changing, something has stirred in Steve Ballmer.
Four years after he swooped in out of nowhere to buy the laughable franchise for an incredible $2 billion, Ballmer has erased all traces of Donald Sterling while finally beginning to write a legacy of his own.
"I don't want to suck, I want to be great!'' he exhorted in an interview this week.