Steve Ballmer thinks Clippers will still contend without Paul George

Steve Ballmer thinks Clippers will still contend without Paul George

In the summer of 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers simultaneously pulled off two of the biggest moves we’ve seen over the last decade, acquiring forward Kawhi Leonard in free agency while trading a boatload of draft equity–plus guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari –to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Paul George .

It was a move expected to make the Clippers perennial contenders and, eventually, net at least one NBA Title to a franchise that’s never made the conference finals. Though it didn’t quite pan out as hoped; Los Angeles made one West Finals in 2020-21, but the duo won a total of three playoff series in five seasons, routinely falling short due to injuries and poor luck.

After a season’s long worth of negotiations went sour , George signed a four-year max with the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this offseason. Despite a wholesale change in its core, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer believes the Clippers will still contend in a loaded Western Conference.

“ I think we’re going to be a very, very good team, ” Ballmer said recently, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “ 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, etc. 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. ”

Los Angeles re-signed James Harden to a two-year, $70 million contract; it acquired Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn to team-friendly deals via sign-and-trade, hard-capping them below the first apron after years of allocating resources deep into the luxury tax.

To offer some perspective on where they stand in the West, they are 10th in over-under win totals (41.5) and West odds (+2200-3500), per Vegas Insiders. That doesn’t mean it’ll play out that way, but it will have to bank on a healthy Kawhi Leonard–who’s played in 70 percent of his team’s games just twice since 2016-17 and is still dealing with knee inflammation–in addition to a healthy (and productive) Harden, among others.

It’s a steep climb for Los Angeles. Ballmer’s not going to publicly trash their squad. Plenty of teams are optimistic about their team’s outlook at this point of the offseason. Though lumping them with “contenders” currently isn’t a pragmatic outlook for an otherwise mediocre team surrounded by a plethora of talented, competitive squads.

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The post Steve Ballmer thinks Clippers will still contend without Paul George appeared first on Vendetta Sports Media .