Clippers' Ballmer, Kings' Ranadive Voted Best, Worst Governors by NBA Insiders

Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers and Vivek Ranadive of the Sacramento Kings sit on opposite ends of the NBA team governor spectrum, according to people who work in the league.

Per The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov, a survey of 31 NBA insiders ranked Ballmer as the best team governor, while Ranadive finished just below Robert Sarver of the Phoenix Suns as the worst team governor.

Vorkunov noted the participants in the survey were made up of 13 executives, 10 front-office personnel, six scouts and two coaches.

Ballmer received 6.5 more votes (20.5) than second-place finisher Micky Arison of the Miami Heat (14).

"Ballmer is the best because it's: 'Hey Steve, we need this,'" one agent told Vorkunov. "OK, boom."

Since taking over as Clippers governor in August 2014, Ballmer has done a lot to build the reputation of the franchise. They are in the process of building a new arena in Inglewood, California, so they no longer have to share a home with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Clippers have made the playoffs five times in six years under Ballmer. The franchise is still chasing a championship, but having Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will always make them serious contenders.

Arison, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks (11 votes), Joe Lacob and Peter Guber of the Golden State Warriors (10.5), Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca of the Boston Celtics (eight) and Peter Holt of the San Antonio Spurs (eight) round out the top tier.

There was a three-way race to the bottom, with James Dolan of the New York Knicks (21 votes) right on the heels of Ranadive and Sarver. No other team governor received more than five votes.

"He seems like he's trying too much to be Jerry Jones," one front-office executive told Vorkunov of Ranadive.

In describing Dolan, one front-office executive gave him credit for spending money but said the "problem he has is he has not shown the ability to hire anyone with any sort of intelligence for a long time."

While the Knicks have been a mess for most of the past decade under Dolan, Ranadive's leadership of the Kings since purchasing a majority share of the organization in 2013 has been atrocious.

Sacramento was in turmoil before Ranadive came on board, with no winning seasons or playoff appearances since 2005-06. The franchise has won more than 33 games once since 2013-14.

The 63-year-old once pitched the idea to Sacramento's coaching staff of "playing four-on-five defense and leaving one player to cherry-pick," according to Zach Lowe when he wrote for Grantland in October 2014.

Ranadive let Bogdan Bogdanovic leave this offseason as a restricted free agent by not matching the four-year, $72 million offer sheet he received from the Atlanta Hawks.

There are a number of reasons why sports organizations endure long losing periods, but Ranadive's leadership of the Kings has been a bust to this point.