LOS ANGELES — Steve Ballmer finally has an NBA outlet for his rah-rah displays of emotion as the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The former Microsoft CEO’s record $2 billion purchase of the team was confirmed by a Los Angeles judge on Tuesday, clearing the way for the avid pickup basketball player to take over the team from Donald Sterling, who unsuccessfully fought his estranged wife over the sale.

The sale achieves Ballmer’s longtime goal of owning a team. He made a bid last year before owners chose to keep the Kings in Sacramento, rather than allow them to be sold to a group that included Ballmer and moved to Seattle.

Now the man with the booming voice and energetic high-fives, who was Microsoft’s biggest booster, has got his own team to share with his wife and three sons.

“We’re a family that likes basketball,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.