The city of Angels might be the home of two NBA teams, but only one of the teams is successful. It’s the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are one of the most successful NBA franchises, with 17 championship banners hanging in the rafters.
On the other hand, the Los Angeles Clippers have never even been to the NBA Finals, let alone win one. Obviously, this means fans always regard the Clippers as the inferior team.
But the current owner of the Clippers, Steve Ballmer, wants to change that. The first step in doing this is to make sure that his team has its own stadium. The Intuit Dome will be ready for the Clippers at the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Ballmer recently celebrated a major milestone of the new home of the Clippers. On that note, Ballmer also hopes that one day his franchise will surpass the popularity of the Purple and Gold.
Second part of SportsCenter interview with Steve Ballmer on what the Intuit Dome means for the Clippers in Los Angeles and eventually not having to share an arena with the Lakers: “I think it’s another statement that says, ‘Hey look, we're nobody’s little brother.’” pic.twitter.com/IcWo1LzvID
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) July 25, 2022
You said this is Laker town. No. Laker-Clipper. And someday, I want to be able to say Clipper-Laker. I guess (it’s) another statement that says ‘Hey, look, we’re nobody’s little brother. We’re a real team.’ At the end of the day, we still got to win games. We got to win championships. If we can give that to Clipper Nation and fulfill my responsibility as a steward, then I’ll feel good.
It is good to be hopeful, but the Clippers are still 17 NBA Championships short of becoming the better team in the city of Angels.
With the organization signing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back in 2019, they have certainly improved a lot. But once again, they are yet to even play in the NBA Finals. Once the Clippers win at least one title, Steve Ballmer should think about becoming more popular than the Lakers. Until then, the city belongs to the Lakers.
