(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Clippers are moving into a new arena, the Intuit Done, this coming season, but there doesn’t seem to be any real excitement surrounding them right now.
They recently lost one of their two stars in Paul George when he joined the Philadelphia 76ers, and after years of early postseason exits, pundits just don’t believe in them the way they used to.
But Clippers owner Steve Ballmer sounded a defiant tone when talking to the media, and he said his team will still contend for the NBA title while praising its talent.
“We still have two Hall of Famers, MVP and Finals MVP on our team,” Ballmer said.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer on whether team can contend for an NBA title next season pic.twitter.com/9GO2OkAHpi
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) July 19, 2024
The Clippers have been the darlings of the national media since 2019, when they acquired George and fellow All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard, and they were picked multiple times to win the world championship.
But after five years of the George-Leonard tandem, they have just one trip to the Western Conference Finals to show for it.
As Ballmer noted, they still possess Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, James Harden, a former regular season MVP and three-time scoring champion, and a slew of serviceable role players.
However, Ballmer also conceded that the Western Conference is tough, and the Clippers have clearly taken a step backward.
They won a somewhat modest 51 games and finished fourth in the West this past season, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks.
Leonard missed time in the postseason for the fourth straight year, and that has to be mentioned as the biggest reason why the 2024-25 campaign will be another disappointing one for Los Angeles’ “other” pro basketball franchise.
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