INGLEWOOD — Standing inside the LA Clippers‘ new state of the art Intuit Dome, team owner Steve Ballmer said he “hated” seeing Paul George leave, but made it clear he believes the retooled roster surrounding Kawhi Leonard and James Harden can contend this season.
Ballmer — who gave reporters a final preview of the Clippers’ new home and the first glimpse of the double-sided halo display called “The Halo Board” — said he likes the club’s new roster. Ballmer believes the Clippers will be very competitive even without George and fan favorite Russell Westbrook.
“I love Paul,” Ballmer said. “Let’s start with Paul as a human being. Paul is a great human being and I’ve really enjoyed my opportunity to get to know Paul’s family. So on a personal level, I hated it. I hated it.
“From a basketball perspective, Paul is a fantastic player, future Hall of Famer. But we knew we needed to continue to get better. And with the new CBA, what tools, what flexibility [can be restricted], we made Paul what I consider a great offer. But it was a great offer in terms of us thinking about how to win championships. It wasn’t what Paul wanted.”
George signed a four-year, $212 million max deal with the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this month.
George said on his “Podcast P with Paul George” that the Clippers started negotiations with a low offer before inching their way up in talks during the season. He said he would have taken the same three-year, $150 million extension that Leonard signed in January. But when George said the Clippers offered him the same deal this summer once he became a free agent, he wanted a no-trade clause attached since the team wasn’t willing to offer the max. The Clippers were not willing to give a no-trade clause.
Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, explained on Monday that the Clippers would not have been able to add or keep the help needed for a championship-contending roster around its three older stars had they given George a bigger deal due to the new collective bargaining agreement and how restrictive it is for tax-paying teams.
“He wanted to go and I respect him for that,” Ballmer said of George. “Basketball players don’t have that many years in their lives to really make money, et cetera. I wish he was here and I wish him well. We got a lot of great players we added that we wouldn’t have been able to add otherwise. So I’m happy about that too.”
The Clippers re-signed Harden and added Derrick Jones Jr., Nic Batum, Kevin Porter Jr., Kris Dunn and Mo Bamba this offseason with defense in mind. Dunn came in a trade with Utah for Westbrook, who is expected to be waived by the Jazz to pave the way for the former MVP to sign with Denver once he clears waivers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Asked about fielding a contending team inside his new palace, Ballmer pointed toward the Dallas Mavericks as a team that made it to the NBA Finals by surrounding its two stars, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, with hard-nosed complementary pieces.
“I think we’re going to be a very, very good team,” Ballmer said. “We’re going to contend, we’ll see how far it takes us. There’s a lot of good teams in the West, let alone you’ve got the Celtics, et cetera in the East. But there’s a lot of good teams. I think we are one of them and if we stay healthy, if we play well, I think every team’s got to get a little bit of luck.
“Our two guys at the top are pretty good and I’ll take our guys that we flank around them. Just take a look at Dallas. They rode the backs of two great players and a bunch of other very, very good players and we certainly have that.”
Ballmer, who was just ranked as the sixth-richest person in the world according to Fortune, said other teams will soon have to make the kind of tough decisions the Clippers had to make with George due to the restrictive CBA.
“I think people are going to be very thoughtful about how they continue build their rosters to win,” Ballmer said. “I think people are going to be over the second apron, but when you’re over the second apron, you better feel like you got a clear shot [to win]. You stay up there two years, you better really feel like you got a clear shot. That was kind of what the Players Association and the league was intending to do. Trying to level out the level of competitiveness.
“Guys like me who’ve been very willing to pay the luxury tax — it’s not about the luxury tax anymore. It’s about the penalties in terms of how you get better. I’m not willing to sacrifice getting better. Still willing to pay the money. But it’s more than money now.”