Clippers' Ballmer: 'We've been kicking the Lakers' a-- over the last several years'
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer knows full well that L.A. is a Lakers town first and foremost, but wants to remind everyone which local NBA team has been more successful over the past half-decade.
"We've been kicking the Lakers' ass the last several years," Ballmer told Business Insider's Julie Bort. "Let's just face it. We don't have the championships that the Lakers do. We don't have any of that. But in the world of sports it's, 'What did you do this season?' And all we can control is how we do this season, next game, next game, and I'm proud of what we're doing. OK, yeah, we didn't have a championship 15 years ago but we're doing well."
To be exact, the Clippers are 18-2 in regular-season meetings with their legendary Staples Center co-tenant since 2012. The impetus for that was a reversal of longtime fortunes for both franchises; the Lakers have won 16 world championships, second most in NBA history. The Clippers were christened the "worst franchise in sports history" by Sports Illustrated in 2000.
Yet while the Clippers have enjoyed Hollywood A-List status in the Lob City era that coincided with the Lakers' demise at the end of Kobe Bryant's career, there's a sense those fortunes will eventually revert to their original form.
Both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are unrestricted free agents this summer, but retaining one or both doesn't change the fact that the Clippers have never been beyond the second round of the playoffs. Doc Rivers' management of the franchise has also left the team devoid of young draft talent over the last few years, while the Lakers have been stockpiling.
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With that, Ballmer knows his team's current championship window is closing and the time to win is now.
"Our ultimate goal isn't to to beat one other team. It's to beat 29 other teams," the billionaire former Microsoft CEO said. "If you tell me you were the top team in L.A., but the 28th team in the league, I say to heck with that. So in a sense, the best way to beat the Lakers is also to be the No. 1 team in the world and that's what we're aspiring to do."