Steve Ballmer expects Clippers to contend despite loss of Paul George

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Team owner Steve Ballmer said inside the LA Clippers’ new, state-of-the-art Intuit Dome that he was “not happy at all” to see Paul George leave, but he also made it clear he’s confident the new-look roster featuring Kawhi Leonard and James Harden can compete this season.

Ballmer — who gave reporters a final preview of the Clippers’ new home and the first glimpse of the two-sided halo display called “The Halo Board” — said he’s excited about the club’s new roster. Ballmer believes the Clippers will be competitive even without George and favorite Russell Westbrook.

“I love Paul,” Ballmer said. “Let’s start with Paul as a person. Paul is a great person and I 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, a future Hall of Famer. But we knew we had to get better. And with the new CBA, what tools, what flexibility (may be limited), we made what I consider a great offer to Paul. But it was a great offer in terms of how we could win championships. It wasn’t what Paul wanted.”

George signed a four-year contract worth up to $212 million 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 slowly moving up in the talks throughout the season. He said he would have accepted 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 because the team wasn’t willing to offer the max. The Clippers weren’t willing to give a no-trade clause.

Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, explained Monday that the Clippers would not have been able to retain or add the players needed for a championship roster around their three aging stars if they had given George a larger deal. This is because of the new collective bargaining agreement and the restrictions it places on taxpaying teams.

“He wanted to go and I respect that,” Ballmer said of George. “Basketball players don’t have that many years in their lives to really make money, etc. I wish he was here and I wish him the best. We added a lot of great players 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 cut by the Jazz to clear the way for the former MVP to sign with Denver once he clears waivers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

When asked about fielding a team that will compete in his new palace, Ballmer pointed to the Dallas Mavericks as a team that reached the NBA Finals by surrounding its two stars, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, with tough, complementary players.

“I think we’re going to be a very, very good team,” Ballmer said. “We’re going to compete, we’ll see how far it takes us. There’s a lot of good teams in the West, let alone the Celtics, etc. in the East. But there’s a lot of good teams. I think we’re one of them, and if we stay healthy, if we play well, I think every team has to have a little bit of luck.

“Our two guys up top are pretty good and I take our guys that we have flanking them. You look at Dallas. They rode on the backs of two great players and a bunch of other really, really good players and we certainly have that.”

Ballmer, who was recently named the sixth-richest person in the world by Fortune, said other teams will soon have to make similarly difficult decisions as the Clippers did with George because of the restrictive CBA.

“I think people are thinking very carefully about how they’re going to continue to build their rosters to win,” Ballmer said. “I think people will be over the second apron, but when you’re over the second apron, you’ve got to feel like you have a clear shot (to win). If you’re going to be there for two years, you’ve really got to feel like you have a clear shot. That’s really what the players’ association and the league set out to do. Try to level the playing field.

“Guys like me who are 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 to get better. I’m still willing to pay the money. But it’s more than money now.”